What Worth a Leaf in a Storm?
by Biblia
Summary: The peace and prosperity of the Silver Millennium surpass all the world has known 'til then, but some peoples of the world are discontent. The senshi become embroiled in new conflict, and Sailor Jupiter somehow finds herself in the center of it all.
1. Chapter 1

"Thank you, Kino-sensei!" A chorus of high, squeaky voices called in unison as a troop of children filed out the front door of the karate studio, each of them with a large, perfectly golden-brown sugar cookie, or at least half of one, clenched in their hands.

"You're welcome, kids, you earned it! See you next week," Makoto watched her white-clad pupils disperse into the city, some starting towards home on foot and others happily meeting parents already there to pick them up. They were good kids, and she was proud to be their sensei. It was a shame that her schedule only allowed her to hold classes one day a week Still, given that and her youthful appearance, it was a wonder she had gathered so many students at all. Though, the fact that her classes were free might have helped that. She stepped lightly off the training mat and into her back office, loosening the belt of her _gi _and slipping it off of her bare shoulders. She draped it carefully over the back of her desk chair, and started pulling on her street clothes from where she'd deposited them carelessly on the floor. She paused in the act of pulling up her baggy khaki pants, and shook her head in amazement. She still wasn't quite used to _ever_ taking off her _gi _without needing a good shower before putting something else on. Teaching classes didn't actually let her work up a good sweat. She spent far more time just standing there and trying to look wise, making sure they didn't hurt one another or themselves. It could be a tough job, sure, but... looking at the full-length mirror she kept in her office, she decided that it didn't quite make up for all the precautionary tasting she did when making them them snacks. She pinched what she fancied to be superfluous flesh around her flat, toned stomach and determined to spend a little extra off-time on more personal training soon. She pulled on her green shirt and a light brown jacket, and slipped a large, baggy, also deep brown baseball cap over her brow, taking a moment to pull her long ponytail through the back in a trained motion.

Well then. Now she had the rest of this gloriously bright Friday--though most days were rather pleasant and bright nowadays--all to herself, what to do? She closed the door of her little dojo behind her, locking it securely. That was more out of habit than anything else, though, crime was next to nonexistent in Crystal Tokyo, and what of it there was could hardly be expected to steal anything from a little karate classroom. She walked outside, and it was like being in another world. The sun glittered and fractured on the spires of Crystal Tokyo beautifully, in a way that not even the former brilliance of light on glass and steel monuments had ever been able to approach. However, despite the Utopian ambiance of cleanliness and security that the city enjoyed, Makoto found it amusing, even gratifying, that not much else had changed in the hearts of the Tokyo populace. There were still kids in crazy, gaudily colored clothes, and harried-looking men with receding hairlines and thick-framed glasses, and kindly looking women presiding over the occasional flower shops. She passed cheerful vendors of foods cooked as you watched, and saw a bus glide by with a picture of some pretty boy smiling charmingly splashed across the side. When the world thought of Crystal Tokyo, they thought of the cultural center of the world, but when Makoto thought of it, it was still just Tokyo, but with a touch more crystal. About the only thing that still had that same fairytale feeling, as though it had leaped straight from a maiden's dream--which it rather had--were the swirling towers of the Palace that could be seen from any area of the city, soaring towards the heavens and looking over everything below it like the caring girl who lived within. No matter the years it had stood there, Makoto continued to be enchanted by the breathtaking beauty of Usagi's dream. Of course, that was a sentiment she shared with the greater population, so it wasn't all that unusual.

Even that enchantment couldn't hold her over for the day, though, and her mind started to wander back to what she might do. The rest of her friends that were still in the city were all working today, so they were out of the question. Usagi usually was anyway, doing the Queen thing took up almost all her time, and Rei took her always-by-the-Princess'-side bodyguard duty seriously, so had a very nearly identical schedule. Minako was often available for a little bit of accompaniment, but... Makoto deeply cherished her friendship with the bubbly blonde, but Minako was the kind of person that she could only take in small doses, not the kind of person she thought of first when considering a movie or a new recipe. Makoto knew that if she was going to go off moping and feeling lonely so often, she really needed to go out and make some more friends, perhaps some strictly normal friends. Even if she had felt like doing so, however, she knew that they would probably wonder about her schedule. Usagi was adamant that the senshi not fade from the public eye, and Makoto could agree with that much, and really didn't have a problem with being on-call for most of the week, ready for the occasional public appearance or what have you. At least she got to see her friends more that way.

She still didn't get to see _her _though...

Makoto sighed. She really needed to get another hobby. She wasn't doing herself any good by fixating on the past like that, as she often found herself doing often when left to her own devices. There was another good part of why she'd started her classes, a little something to do during her time off. Makoto idly tried to train her mind elsewhere Maybe she could go surf the internet for recipes, and find a nice, sinfully delicious, maliciously difficult one. That should take her mind off of anything else, hopefully. Is she _didn't _pay close enough attention, her kitchen would pay the price for such distraction, which was certainly good motivation. She thought about stopping by a grocery on her way back to her apartment, seeing if there were anything that caught her eye. Though, perhaps she should get her bearings back beforehand. Just where _was _she, right now? She started towards to the nearest major intersection in the distance, sure that she'd be able to recognize one of the streets.

Between one footfall and the next, the pavement trembled slightly underfoot. Frowning downward, she looked to her fellow man to see if anybody else had noticed. Most were just continuing on with their day, but she did notice a few other people looking curiously around, or down at their feet. It hadn't been her imagination then. She shrugged. Probably wasn'--thwoompf! Thrown off balance, she pitched forward onto one knee, hand planted on the ground for stability. Around her, people teetered around, landing flatly on their bottoms or skinning elbows harshly on the ground. She spotted a few cars crooked on the road with black streaks marking their passage, drivers sitting white-knuckled and ashen-faced behind the steering wheel. In the distance she could hear car alarms going off--just as annoying as they had always been, the Millennium Kingdom hadn't changed that--and sirens screaming. Frowning, she reached into her coat pocket and closed her hands around the cool, hard, comfortably reassuring shape of her henshin.

"Jupiter Oak Power, make up!"

The cylinder seared in her hand, a shot of white heat rushing through her veins and a crackle of static tingling up her back and through her hair. The world was awash in hues of palest blue and green, and she felt for that wonderful second as though she composed of air and life and _freedom. _Tendrils of electricity caressed her body, sending pleasant shivers across her skin, then settled to form her fuku, its manifestation grounding her back into the framework of reality. Her physical form, as always, suddenly felt _so_ inadequate of holding all of what she was; she could feel it inside her, the power of her guardian, pulsing and humming in tune with her heartbeat and breath. Sailor Jupiter looked around with purpose flashing in her eyes and the steadfast permanence of an old tree to the placement of her feet. Enough people nearby still had enough presence of mind to notice one of the world's nine most recognizable people appear suddenly in their midst, but she ignored the gasps and cries of surprise and calls for explanation and started running in the direction of the explosion, long legs consuming the miles as the Senshi of Courage shot like an arrow from a bow towards the threat to her Queen's city.

--

In the palace, Queen Serenity, or Usagi to her friends and family, gnawed one lip and looked worriedly to her closest companion. Sailor Mars held a phone to her ear and spoke calmly and authoritatively, Usagi could hear her voice echoing down around in the halls as her message was relayed to the palace communication system.

"The palace and grounds are to be put on high alert until otherwise notified. There is a possibility of terrorist activity in the city. This is not a drill. You've been trained, now go prove that you know what you're doing," she finished. Then she turned to Usagi with a reassuring, though uncertain, smile, "Terrorists, right. But rules are rules, your highness."

"But, Sailor Mars, do you think that everybody out there is okay? Maybe I should go there and--"

"Uh-uh, Princess. I'm your bodyguard, and you're staying put. You have the finest police force in all the world on the job, there's no reason for you to go play the hero today," she waved a finger under Usagi's nose in warning.

"Those are my people out there, what kind of Queen am I if I don't show up when there's trouble?"

"A live one. If there is something dangerous out there, what better target could they have next than Queen Serenity suddenly waltzing up to poke her nose in?"

"You told me it was probably an accident," Usagi pointed out accusingly.

"Of course that's what it probably is, but there's the chance that it isn't. Besides, what would you do down there? The police are on their way, and so is medical care for the injured. You made yourself a Crystal Tokyo, now we're going to make sure it works the way it's supposed to," seeing the look on Usagi's face, Rei sighed in frustration, "Sailor Venus is camped by the Palace entrance waiting for the reporters to show up, Mako-chan is out on her day off--far, far away from the explosion!" Mars quickly added for Usagi's benefit, "Would you stop! If there was any massive conglomeration of malicious extragalactic evil that had crashed into the Earth, I'm pretty sure I would have picked up on it, I've been pretty good about that before. Just let everybody do their jobs, and you do yours. Meaning, get ready for some paperwork, your highness," Sailor Mars finished with a little dig to get a rise from her longtime friend, but Usagi couldn't even manage a squeak protest at the sound of her least favorite administrative activity. Mars didn't like to see her so downcast, but felt proud that the Silver Millennium had a Queen that would worry this much for her people.

"Hey, Princess," Sailor Mars started, rolling her eyes just to let Usagi know that she really was being spoiled, "If you really think this might be serious, I think Ami-chan could spare a little while to go in as an observer. A senshi presence is a senshi presence, I would think. If something requiring Sailor Moon comes up, she can tell you."

"Ami-chan, of course! You're a genius, Sailor Mars, please do. If anybody is smart enough to figure out what happened, it's Ami-chan."

"Fine, your highness, one Senshi investigator, coming up," Mars brought out the communicators that all five still kept around, for personal communication and transmissions that they dare not chance being intercepted.

"Hello, Sailor Mars, Usagi-chan," Ami's sweet, calm voice filtered crisply through the device, "I would imagine this has something to do with whatever just shook the Palace library about?"

_"The library, of course,"_ Sailor Mars mouthed silently at Usagi. The Queen managed a little smile, and the Senshi of Fire was all-business once more.

"Sure enough. Do you think Sailor Mercury could get herself down there and see what she can dig up?"

"I'm on my way. In the meantime, do you have anybody to spare to put up all these fallen books? I'm afraid the spines will all warp at this rate, and the pages will crease permanently."

"I'm sure we can find someone, Ami-chan, now get a move on before our Queen here has a panic attack."

--

Sailor Mercury gracefully glided up to the line of harassed police officers, the crowd of curious gawkers parting in front her, leaving hushed, awed whispers in her wake. She tried to ignore all the attention, she was no more comfortable with it now than she had ever been. The Senshi of Water focused on the officer in the middle, a man who could not have been much older than forty, despite the barest touch of silver at his temple. Like Mercury, he seemed to be a calm, rational thinker, and emanated that same sense of reassuring capability to those around him. She caught his eye, and he looked enormously relieved, if slightly taken aback.

"Good afternoon, officer...?" she began cordially.

"Teshigawara. Good day, Sailor Mercury," he offered in return, "It's good to see you here... or, is it?" He added bluntly, "If one of the Senshi come by, that tells me this wasn't just an accident."

"Not at all, officer," she answered, speaking loudly enough that the people behind her would hear, "I was just in the neighborhood and thought this was sort of thing fit the senshi job description. Everything looks fine, though, you've certainly responded with admirable expediency." Even with all the onlookers knew of the famed planetary senshi, most still thought that it looked decidedly strange to see a girl appearing no older than seventeen speaking on such terms with an officer.

Now that Mercury had arrived and had a look, the situation really did not appear to be too serious. There were no bodies littering the streets nor cries of injured citizens filling the air, and while the smoking building certainly appeared the worse for the wear at the moment, it was intact, and certainly looked better now than it had. There were spiderweb cracks running through the slate-gray crystalline structure in worrisome patterns, but already the crystal was bonding back together the fractured pieces. The repairs were rather visible today, with small pockets of thick, oily, synthetic smoke trapped inside the cracks coloring the patched fractures. Buildings in Crystal Tokyo were quite capable of repairing themselves these days, in a process that would take the better part of a month to fully complete, but would keep the structure physically sound, if not greatly aesthetic, until then. Sailor Mercury knew that this was one of the less inhabited areas of the city, the targe--accident site, she corrected herself, there was no reason yet to think that the building had been a target of any kind--was a low, warehouse type of structure that stretched a block or more in each direction, and presumably a great deal back from where she stood as well. Probably some sort of manufacturing facility. Sailor Mercury activated her visor and it immediately started supplying her with information about her surroundings and whatever her eyes focused on. Time had only improved this device of hers, linking herself and her senshi supercomputer in ever more intuitive ways. Her readout told her that this was a bottle manufacturing plant for a soft drink company, and that it had been shut down for the day because of some broken assembly part that had to be ordered. Also, it informed her that, while the burning synthetics smoke was indisputably toxic, there weren't any particularly hazardous or combustible chemicals used in the facility. She quickly covered her dismay at that news.

"Would you mind if I took a look around in there, officer? The smoke is mostly dissipated."

"I'm sure I'm outranked anyway, Sailor Mercury, feel free. Anything you want us to do?"

"You're doing a fine job, just keep the civilians away. Thank you," she finished politely.

Mercury continued up the path to the front entrance of the building. The door was a little more specialized than the wall, so it hadn't simply bonded back into position. It was knocked loose from the shock wave, though, and Mercury was able to squeeze past and inside. It was murky, the lighting gone and a thin, sooty haze remaining in the air. A quick scan told her it was safe enough to breath for a short while, though the acrid odor of burned plastics made her wrinkle her nose as she stepped carefully around. It didn't take her longer than a few meters inside to conclude that there really wasn't much she could do in here right now. Visibility was far too poor to determine anything about the cause of the explosion, all she was doing right now was giving her lung's biological defenses a test run like they hadn't had in years. She stopped and prepared to turn back, but then she faintly heard a soft, scratching sound from above. _Scritch, scritch. _She up, and back towards the entrance, and a bit of movement caught her eye, by the cloudy window.

_Blam!_

A sharp report, a flash of muzzle flare, and Sailor Mercury's heart jumped into her throat. Scarcely thinking where the person was or where they were shooting, she threw herself to the side, at the same time hearing a cracking staccato of gunfire tracing her path. She kept her momentum and rolled in a curve, to prevent them from tracking any likely path. She took a deep breath and shouted as she spun,

"Shabon Spray!"

Combined with the murk, they would have a hard time placing her position again now, if she were careful. But that first gunshot, it had been at the window, and not at her. She lay there, trying to breath shallowly and quietly. Slowly, she raised a hand to the side of her visor and ran a finger down the edge, cycling to an infra-red light filter. At first everything appeared the same dirty, orange color, the air and twisted machinery still holding a good deal of heat even with the chilly fog permeating the building, but she was able to see the darker patches moving about soon enough. Small shapes, crouched people, were creeping through the factory. Looking for her.

Up in the air, she could here the the small click of a firearm reloading.

--

Sailor Jupiter was able to follow the plume of inky smoke that rose up to the site of the explosion she'd heard. She found the people there, and the police, and ran through the former, ignoring the excitement she caused.

"Officer, what happened here?" She asked of the same man Ami had come to.

"I don't know but something tells me it must be bigger than I'm being let in on, if two senshi just happen to be 'in the neighborhood'," Teshigawara answered with raised eyebrows.

"Two Senshi?"

"Sailor Mercury just went inside," he jerked his thumb to the door. Jupiter's eyes widened perceptively. Mercury? She must have heard wrong, that was about the last name she would have expected from him. He must have been mistaken. She was gone now, not in--

_Blam!_

Sailor Jupiter's head was thrown back violently as though she'd been struck with a hammer, eyes unfocused. She fell backwards, white spots dancing before her eyes. The surprised senshi got a double helping as the back of her head slammed hard against the pavement, and far from white spots, she could see no more. She wasn't sure how long she was out, but when she opened her eyes she heard a faint screaming, perhaps that was what roused her, and the mad shuffle of panicked feet running around behind and around her, fading quickly. Somewhere in her dazed and lethargic mind something was trying to talk to her, but it was rather a lot of effort to listen when she could just stay here and rest for a little while longer, hoping this little headache would go away...

Then something dark was in front of her eyes, cutting off view of the pretty, sparkly colors up above. Her lips tried to frown, though even that effort felt almost too much for her. This was rude of somebody. The shape came into focus. It was a man. He was in a police uniform and looked vaguely familiar. His mouth was moving, but the screaming and the running... it was difficult to separate the words from everything else.

She found herself wishing he would just move. It was a nice day, and there were more pleasant things to be looking at than somebody shouting at her that she couldn't understand. He didn't move, though, he just started waving a hand in front of her face, too, which irritated her all the more. Sailor Jupiter wondered that she ought to look somewhere else, if this was bothering her so much. So she laboriously pulled one arm underneath her and raised up on one elbow. Her head felt thick and heavy, like it were filled with some oozing sludge. Her head lolled as she rose, and she felt nauseatingly lightheaded as though her skull were emptying of that substance. As it cleared, she discovered that the muffling coat over her brain had, among the other things, hidden an absolutely horrific pounding pain between her ears. She groaned, and shook her head to clear it, and groaned louder after being informed that this was a bad idea. Gritting her teeth, she raised her eyes carefully to the officer beside her, and looked around. She was in the shadow of a patrol car, its profile facing the cracked building and he was next to her with relief evident in his features. She also noted that he had his sidearm drawn.

"Urgh, what hit me?"

"A bullet, it looked like, to your head. Then the sidewalk, to your head. What's your skull made of, Lightning Senshi?" Teshigawara asked incredulously, though obviously glad for whatever her cranial material was. She gingerly fingered her forehead, and found a definite indentation on her circlet, high on the side of her head, at the apex of where it curved from the ornamental emerald set in front. There was a good lump forming under there, with a little trickle of blood escaping underneath, and she could feel another sizable pain at the base of her skull.

"Tiaras, not just for looking pretty," she smiled painfully.

"One suspect is at that front window. After he fired on you, another officer and I took you into cover behind the car."

"Where is he, then?"

Sailor Jupiter saw his eyes focus past her, bleakly sorrowful. She looked behind her to see a young man, couldn't have been out of his twenties, staring up at the sky as she had been, but with glassy eyes that would never see the beauty they gazed toward. She couldn't see the bullet hole, but the pool of deep crimson staining the ground under his head told her enough.

"He tried to aim just a little bit too long," he explained, "But that guy has us outgunned and at a tactical disadvantage. About the only good thing is the sons a bitches didn't fire on any civilians," his knuckles were white on his weapon. Sailor Jupiter could feel the helpless, frustrated rage waxing from him in waves, and with another look at the fallen officer, she could sympathize. With a horrible sinking feeling in her stomach, she realized that she might have more reason to sympathize.

"Sailor Mercury! You said she was here, in there, have you seen her!?"

He shook his head, "No, but she either gave them a good fight or is giving them one. Every now and then I've heard fire from inside," his mention of "a suspect" and "bitches", plural, clicked into mind,

"There's more of them?"

"Looks like it. Last we heard in there was a few minutes ago, but--"

They both fell silent as they heard another rapid burst of fire inside.

"Looks like she's still givin' them hell," the officer added fiercely, then added in a more somber tone, "If that one didn't get her."

Sailor Jupiter raised herself to one knee, "If that one did get her, they just made the worst mistake of their lives," Jupiter spoke with chilling flatness, allowing her anger to coalesce like a gathering winter storm. She felt the familiar tingle running up and down her arm and hearing a satisfying _crack _and _snap _of electricity between her fingers as she flexed her fingers into a fist. Her eyes were narrowed, the color of deep green leaves in shadow.

"Sparkling Wide Pressure!' She cried, springing on her bended knee out from the side of the car and hurling the sparkling projectile towards the window. She planted one hand on the ground and pivoted upon it, turning to face the building and running at flat-out speed towards it. She didn't even glance up to see what her attack had accomplished, though she heard an awful sound as of rock sheering from above, and cursed that she must have missed the window. She reached the door without slowing and turned, letting her shoulder blades take most of the abuse from the impact. The door gave just a few inches, enough for her to slide freely in and hit the floor rolling. Present the smallest target, she told herself silently, stay in motion. She crept blindly through the interior, smelling smoking rubber and feeling a cool mist, evidence of Mercury's activities, in the air.

She ground her teeth together. Brilliant rescue, Jupiter, she told herself harshly, although _seeing _would be nice. She jerked her knee up with a hastily suppressed gasp as something icy cold touched it. It turned out to be, unsurprisingly, ice. As Jupiter explored it, her fingers found that it was a line that extended out into the gloom. Sailor Mercury, it must have been Mercury's way of getting them together, she thought hopefully. Anything was better than feeling blind. Jupiter began a swift, low run in the direction it led, thinking that she was being quiet. She discovered her mistake when somebody shouted, and a somewhat unsubtle instinct inside told her to run, faster. She did, just in time to hear bullets zinging through the air, hitting the floor and hunks of machinery around her. She didn't hear any hit the machinery in front of her, though, so had no warning of the spear of jagged metal that reached up to grab her leg, felling her and slicing her calf laterally. She fell with a whoosh of breath, and relief that there hadn't been more wreckage for her body to fall upon.

"Shine Aqua Illusion!"

Sailor Jupiter saw a flow of water stream past her and break like a wave against the air, rising into a curving barrier of ice that enclosed her protectively, just in time for a to chill run up her spine at the rapid _thud-thud-thud_ of metallic slugs burying themselves in the shield.

"Sailor Jupiter, over here," she heard Mercury's voice hiss from forward and left, covered by the sound of the ammunition impacting, and she hoisted her leg back under her made her way in that direction. Sailor Mercury put an hand to the courageous Senshi's shoulder as Jupiter was about to walk by, then drew her head down so she could whisper, so closely and quietly that her lips brushed Jupiter's ear,

"Sound travels well in here, try not to talk, be careful where you step, follow me," this closely they could see one another, and Sailor Jupiter nodded an affirmative. She followed her comrade as Sailor Mercury led them slowly and silently to a position several meters away. Deep down, emotions and questions burned in Jupiter's soul, but they were all quenched for the time being by her situation, the years falling away like melting ice as they crouched together, hearts pumping adrenaline, fighting together in the name of justice and love as before. Focusing on the now, Jupiter looked around and shrugged exaggeratedly, pointing a thumb to herself and miming punching and shouting. Then she gestured into the gloom, and mimicked firing a rifle. Mercury closed her lip between her teeth and held up a single finger. Jupiter nodded, giving her time to think. She watched Sailor Mercury peer around, then tapped her shoulder. Jupiter tapped her visor, then pointed to her own eyes and out into the gloom. Mercury nodded, imitating the gesture in affirmation that yes, she could see the enemy. The Senshi of Wisdom brightened, then, and nodded furiously. She pointed Jupiter in a direction, gesturing to go that way. Sailor Jupiter looked wonderingly at the suddenness of the direction, but at Mercury's insistent expression did as she was told. It wasn't often that Sailor Mercury was mistaken.

Jupiter's shoulder blades tensed, already feeling as though eyes were staring at her exposed back in the darkness. Sailor Jupiter edged across the floor with painful slowness. She found herself longing for a nice, simple, head-to-head battle with some three-wheeled, five-nippled, mauve-spotted energy eater instead of this nerve-wracking experience. In her opinion, a terrifying enemy seen was much better than a mundane one in the dark.

"Shine Aqua Illusion!"

Sailor Jupiter looked back sharply at the cry, extra sharp in the silence, to see Mercury crafting herself a similar ice shield to before, and in her peripheral saw a soft, instant glow of muzzle flare with the cracks of fire that started ringing in her ears. Hoping that she had the right idea and trying not to think further than that, Jupiter sprang up and sprinted to that area, judging the approximate distance and leaping through the air knees first. She was rewarded with a nice, soft, impact for her legs, knocking the man over and engaging in a small floor scuffle that ended with her sinking her knee into his prone form's stomach, and a smart rap on the side of his skull with a closed fist. His head lolled to the side.

"Érico?" She heard a voice, with a thick, Latin accent she couldn't quite place. It came from above.

"_Idiota_! Forget about him, fire!" Another voice, this one with the same accent, but feminine. Jupiter sprang away just in time to avoid yet more bullets zinging through the air, an experience that had lost its charm long ago, about the time she'd been shot.

"No, Leonor! You might hit Érico!"

"Cala! Just shoot!"

Jupiter changed direction to come at the second voice from small circle, striving for silence. It was hard to correlate sound and distance here. She came to a halt and strained her ears. From just off to her right, she heard boots crunch hesitatingly on debris, and grinned savagely, her quarry located. Taking long, slow, careful steps, she came within just a few feet of whom the other had called "Leonor." She could hear the woman breathing, sounding just as anxious and displeased with the environment as Jupiter felt. The senshi determined to confirm the other's misgivings.

Sailor Jupiter leaped forward and brought a stiff hand down on the woman's wrist, the rifle of her gun falling from a suddenly nerveless grasp. Without wasted motion, Jupiter grabbed the same arm, spun around on her outside foot and heaved her opponent over her shoulder to land on her back, hard, breath whooshing from the impact and stunning her. She grabbed the front of the woman's rough jacket and heaved her up, twisting her arm behind her and holding her in front with a hand clapped over her mouth.

"I have Leonor," she called out, "If you shoot over here, you'll hit her. Drop your weapon and lay on the ground."

There was nothing but silence from the rest of the interior, and with every passing second that went by without the sound of weapons clattering to the ground, Jupiter's doubts about the other man's conscious grew. Sure, he'd sounded worried about hitting his other associate, but he had been perfectly okay with murdering the officer outside, and shooting at her in cold blood as well...

As if to lend veracity to those thoughts, she heard the sharp crack of a report and a wet, muffled thud, and the vainly squirming body she held against her stiffened, and fell limp. Jupiter could still feel breath from the woman's nose even through her gloved hand, so she definitely wasn't dead, but it was obvious the man had no qualms about shooting towards her to get to his real target.

"Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!"

Sailor Jupiter heard Mercury's voice once more from across the interior, and the sweet strum of strings on an instrument no human could possibly hope to craft. Jets of bright, shining water sailed to the square of light and peppered the wall around the window, a cry of shock, the clatter of a rifle, and the thud of a body falling all to the floor telling of Mercury's success. Feeling irritated, but also responsible for the injury of the woman she held, Jupiter eased her to the ground, feeling her breathing shallowly.

"Where are you hit?"

"_B-bruxa... vá ao inferno..._" the woman spat the words out, and Jupiter had the distinct impression she might have added more actual saliva to the apparent epithet if she'd been able.

"No use getting anything out of her," Mercury kneeled beside Jupiter and put a hand on her shoulder, "My Spanish is better than my Portuguese, but I believe she just said something along the lines of, 'witch, go and burn.'"

"Portuguese?"

"That's what they're speaking, I can tell that much. Let's get her outside."

Sailor Jupiter nodded and picked up the woman, now too weakened to struggle--Jupiter felt another surge of guilt, but reminded herself of the fallen officer. She followed Mercury back to the door. The streets were vacant, except for the multitudes of eyes at various employment, peeking through the windows of the buildings still open for business. There were more police vehicles outside as well, and Teshigawara raised up from behind his patrol car at their emergence, raising a fist triumphantly. Before he could start on congratulations, however, Sailor Jupiter spoke first.

"We need an ambulance for this one, and get a couple more officers in there. There's two--"

"Three, I dispatched one before you go there," the Senshi of Water corrected.

"--Three," Sailor Jupiter amended, "Three more suspects in there, all unarmed and ready for arrest. Be careful in there, it's a little hard to see."

"The mist should be dissipating soon, but do watch yourselves, officers," Mercury added lastly. A couple of paramedics ran over with a stretcher and Jupiter gratefully deposited her burden to their care. Freed, Jupiter turned to her companion without hesitation and enfolded her in a smothering, crushing embrace. She stepped back and clapped her hands atop Mercury's shoulders, thinking that the intelligent senshi's pretty face in the light was the most beautiful thing she'd seen in years.

"God, you gave me a scare, Sailor Mercury. I thought, when I heard the shots inside, that maybe..." She couldn't finish voicing the horrible prospect.

"Only because you were here, Jupiter," Mercury returned, putting her hands to Sailor Jupiter's wrists and taking them from her shoulders, clasping the Senshi of Thunder's hands between her own, "Thank you. You even got hurt for me," Mercury brought her fingertips to Jupiter's cheek, following the thin trickle of dried blood up to the wound near her temple. They looked at one another for a long moment, all the distance of the years shrunk down to the short distance between their eyes.

Jupiter looked a little uncomfortable at the unabashed gratitude in Sailor Mercury's eyes and her attentions, but she smiled back shyly, feeling tongue-tied like she hadn't since she was in high school. Since then, back that long ago... .almost simultaneously, they each saw the other's eyes grow distant in a way that looked terribly unfamiliar to them both.

"We should, ah, get to the palace to speak with the rest of the Senshi and her highness, then," Jupiter said in a faintly stiff tone. Mercury averted her eyes and nodded. Jupiter suddenly felt like biting back those flat words and saying something, anything else, but what was there to say? She felt pangs of long-suffered sorrow in her heart, accompanied by pulsing throbs in her head, and didn't want to think about anything else right now. Her senshi duty would come first. Mercury withdrew her hand from Jupiter's injury with a neutral expression tinged with sadness and nodded, friendliness fading from her features as she, too, turned her mind from the past and onto more recent matters. Jupiter smoothed her features and did her best to bear her headache, listening as Sailor Mercury started speaking of her observations.

"Yes, the others need to know about this. Those were military firearms, Sailor Jupiter. Illegal for civilian possession, and almost impossible to buy without good money _and _good connections to... seedier elements of society. This is serious, very serious."

"I hope it _was _serious rather than _is,_" Jupiter replied meaningfully.

"Me too," Mercury replied, eyes downcast, "But even in the city of dreams, we have to do more than hope," the sweet, quiet senshi said softly, wondering perhaps how much she was talking to herself as her companion.

Jupiter smiled broadly and confidently, "Well I, for one, am always willing to give hope a little hand. Or a big one, even," she added, flexing one arm and patting her bicep. She winked at Sailor Mercury, who laughed softly even with her worries weighing on her. Whatever lay between them now, Sailor Jupiter still couldn't stand to see Mercury bothered without trying to cheer her up. Mercury felt a surge of quiet gratitude, it was a good deal harder to feel at all afraid with the Senshi of Courage by her side. Even back there, creeping half-blind through the building and surrounded by armed men and woman after her blood, the arrival of Sailor Jupiter had been like lightning strike during a midnight storm, bringing a breath of clarity and light to a dark and chaotic world

Sailor Jupiter grinned at having made Mercury even emit that little chuckle, and tried not to think about how close she might have come to never hearing that the sound again. What if she'd taken another road from her class, and lost those few minutes? What if that sharpshooter had gotten into position just a few minutes earlier, when Mercury arrived? What if, when Jupiter had gotten there, that bullet hadn't accidentally struck her tiara? So many what ifs that could have left the world down one pretty, smart, brave sailor senshi; taken her away again, this time for good, any chance Jupiter would ever have snuffed in one little instant. When she spoke next, it was more like instinct than anything that prompted it,

"Hey, Sailor Mercury? Maybe, after we get finished, you'd like to come over for tea, or perhaps a cup of coffee?" Jupiter asked hesitantly, then immediately felt foolish. Three years of silence and a walk through a fire fight, sure, anybody would feel like tea after that. Way to seem like an insensitive loon, Jupiter, she thought disparagingly.

"I... I'd be delighted, that sounds wonderful," Mercury answered in a similarly halting manner, unsure at first whether she would accede, but making the decision at the last.

Jupiter's mouth hooked in a small smile. Three years, combat, whatever. To spend time with the friend that she had missed most again, maybe... maybe they could pick up where they'd left off, somehow. Somehow... Sailor Jupiter felt this to be as shaky and unsure as anything, but if there was one thing a senshi could always do, it was hope.


	2. Chapter 2

The palace guards let through the two senshi with a minimum of fuss, having only seen Sailor Mercury leave no more than an hour before. If that wasn't enough, the injured Senshi of Thunder's disposition looked a fit match for her title, further discouraging any officious fuss. The men placed their hands deferentially to the swords buckled at their waists and stood aside, prising open the heavy, periwinkle-streaked silver doors

The halls of the palace went mostly unseen by the purposefully striding pair as they took the familiar path to where they knew their Moon Princess would be waiting. The hardly ever convened in the throne room whenever they got together, although the path to the living quarters deeper in the palace did pass by that setting of royal business, where they found another of their friends. Sailor Venus stood before the entrance to the throne room, coolly and gracefully answering the questions of a small mob of reporters, all obviously yearning to enter the ornate doors behind her to where they imagined the Queen would be.

"Sincerest apologies, but Queen Serenity is currently engaged pressing matters, and is unable to answer any questions at the moment. If you would be able to return, say, tomorrow--"

"But the city was just attacked, the Queen must have something to say to the people!"

"There is nothing yet saying that this was any sort of 'attack', sir."

"There was gunfire at the scene!"

Ami raised her eyebrows, "News travels fast," she remarked, though she knew she shouldn't be all that surprised. It always felt as though information traveled faster when it related to you, Makoto had always thought.

"Well then, you appear better informed than I am of what's going on, my good man. I really must insist that you're not getting any more information here. The Queen wont' see you right now. If this was so serious, then shouldn't you let her see about taking care of it, before anything else happens?"

"Are you saying there's a chance of more incidents in the future?"

Jupiter quirked an eyebrow at the unflappable Sailor Venus. Despite her composure, it looked to the pair as though the Senshi of Beauty and Love was becoming increasingly irritated at half of what she said getting ignored. Sailor Jupiter met Mercury's gaze, and she rolled her eyes to the ceiling. Venus needed to hear the news too, so they had to get her out of here. Jupiter decided to give this crowd a show. She marched into the back of the crowd, any media personality who turned back for any reason filled with a convenient, speechless intimidation at the tall, bloodied senshi bearing down on them. She reached Sailor Venus on the small steps leading to the throne room door and turned to face the reporters.

"You've heard all you're going to! You want more answers, talk to the police. Sailor Venus has more important things to do than sit and talk idle gossip with you mongers all day."

Strangely enough, not a one of them uttered so much as a peep about "freedom of the press" or "journalistic responsibility or any of that natter. Sailor Jupiter winked surreptitiously at her friend before walking down from the steps, the ranks of the people parting before her. She heard the rapid whir of shutters opening and closing as she walked by and knew that the papers and news stations were going to have a field day with her battered visage. No use in worrying about it, however, the whole city would have the whole story by tonight anyway. They rejoined Sailor Mercury and set off down the hallway past the throne room, which was quite clearly marked as a no-pass zone for any but palace personnel, so they would be fee of any more annoyance. Or rather, any annoyance that didn't come from palace personnel.

"Sailor Jupiter, what happened to you?" Venus asked worriedly after they'd left the ear and camera range of any particularly acute reporter.

"I had a political disagreement with a few foreigners," Sailor Jupiter answered shortly, only wanting to have to relate the tale once.

"What?" Sailor Venus asked blankly in reply, and Mercury kindly provided a better answer.

"The explosion wasn't an accident, there were enemies there."

Venus gasped, "Youma?"

"No--"

"Unfortunately," Jupiter butted in with a growl, "Give me a youma and a straight fight any day to a bunch of ungrateful yahoos."

"No youma, Sailor Venus. We'll explain more when we're all together, okay?"

Sailor Venus nodded her silent acquiescence. They entered the room they were looking for, and felt more like they were leaving the place than entering a room. It hadn't taken their Queen very long to realize that the splendor and grandeur she'd always fancied wasn't really that comfortable, even to even her dreamy sensibilities. Soon after the palace was finished, she'd had a section refurbished into something more akin to a traditional home. A high-class home, granted, she _was_ still Usagi, but more a home and less a mansion than she'd started with. When the three senshi came inside, they were greeted with the image of Sailor Mars sitting serenely balanced on the back of a plushy couch, Usagi resting her head back one of the dark-haired senshi's pale thighs. Mars was in the midst of stroking her fingers through the Princess hair when she looked up, stricken at having been caught in such a situation, but Usagi saved her any explanation by leaping up with an exuberance suitable to a woman significantly below her age at the sight of her friends, and a cry of concern for Jupiter.

"Jupiter, you're hurt!"

The Senshi of Courage waved her away, displaying a lopsided grin to disarm her concern.

"It's nothing, Princess, we have other things we need to talk about right now," Makoto's skull told her quite sharply that they were going to exchange words about this later, but the senshi just swallowed her discomfort.

"There was trouble." Mars spoke sharply, getting to her feet. It wasn't really a question, but Jupiter nodded. She turned around to Mercury and put a hand on her arm, drawing her forward.

"Let's have the Senshi of Intelligence here give the, uh, intelligence."

"Usagi-chan, there were armed men and women who set off that explosion in the city," Usagi's eyes widened in shock and sorrow.

"B-but why?"

"To bag a senshi, from the looks of it," Jupiter tossed in, "Or at least, they weren't shooting until we got there."

"Firing!? They shot at you!"

"Well, they missed," Jupiter shrugged. She put a hand to her head as it throbbed, accompanying her answer with a pained smile, "Mostly."

"Where are they now?" Usagi demanded, blue eyes blazing.

"In custody, Usagi-chan," Mercury stepped back in smoothly, "Sailor Jupiter and I were able to subdue them, but that's not what's important."

"You were shot at, Sailor Mercury, that's plenty important!"

"But they've been arrested, and it's over," Mercury continued calmly, placating her friend. Usagi's lips twisted into a frown, clearly disliking the idea of her friends having been shot at... and not having an opportunity to blast the offenders back a time or two herself,

"So there's no more trouble in my city right now?"

"No, Usagi-chan," she was assured. Usagi seemed to deflate a little, and her face softened.

"Oh. Then, um, why don't you all make yourselves a little more comfortable? We don't get a lot of chances to be together," the Queen smiled, and the rest of them looked around. They laughed sheepishly, all still in their uniforms, all standing on their feet--with some more than a small degree of readiness in their postures. Jupiter took a deep breath and in the space of any eye blink, felt her street clothing settle back down on over her like dry water, odd as that sounded was, coursing down her body. The others were back in more casual garb as well, at the end of that blink. Minako was in a smart blue blazer and gray skirt, looking remarkably mature for their flighty friend, and Ami was dressed in a warm pink sun dress. Makoto thought she looked great, though Ami _always_ seemed to pick out the most perfect little outfits for herself. Rei came back, however, a tad too casually. She was dressed only in a thin, almost filmy nightshirt on top, and nothing but panties to cover the rest. Usagi was staring at her and giggling as the miko took a few moments to remember her state of dress. She quickly turned so red, so quickly, that "fiery" could have been an apt description for more than just her temperament. She covered herself with her arms and scrambled into the next room.

"Rei-chan and I were having a comfortable day at home," Usagi explained with a grin, "She transformed without ever actually getting dressed. I think she forgot."

Makoto and Minako laughed outright, and even Ami's shoulders shook slightly as she covered a grin with her hand. Makoto's laughter cut off abruptly, though, drawing the other's eyes to her as she swayed unsteadily. Ami was at her side in an instant.

"Minako-chan, help me sit her down," Ami directed, and together they sat the tall woman down in a comfortable easy chair.

"Hey now, don't worry about me. Just a little headache, I'll be fine. Got any aspirin?" Makoto tried to shrug off their tending, but couldn't gather the strength to. Ami frowned at her, entirely unamused, and gingerly removed her cap, taking special care to avoid jarring her skull as she slipped it from her long ponytail.

"What, hey? What's wrong with Mako-chan?" Rei, just coming out from the other room clad in a simple black shirt and jeans, saw her friend's sate.

"Jeez, it's just a couple of bumps on the noggin, you all," Makoto insisted.

"A couple, Mako-chan?" Ami looked at her, "Just how many places _are _you hurt?"

"Bullet to the forehead, cracked the back of my skull on the pavement when I fell, and a little cut on my leg from that fun run in the dark earlier. I think I'll survive, doctor," Makoto replied wearily.

"Rei-chan," Ami directed, ignoring that last part "Do you have any ice packs? Or just a bag with ice and a towel, anything at all?"

"Coming right up," Rei answered, stepping spryly to the kitchen. Ami herself on the arm of the chair and put steady, expert hands to Makoto's head, She parted her hair and made a disapproving noise at the ugly, dark, splotchy bruise she found spreading back over Makoto's scalp, under her hair.

"Mako-chan..." Ami reproached, but proceeded in turning her impromptu patient's head round before she scolded any more. She touched carefully and also winced sympathetically at the goose-egg sized bump on the other side. Rei came back into the room with a couple of hastily constructed ice bags wrapped in thin kitchen towels. Ami took them gratefully and raised Makoto's head to place one under her like a pillow, and held the other one to the front bruise. Makoto tried to raise her arm to hold the pack herself, but Ami shooed her hand away, leaving the tall girl to do little more than shiver at her suddenly cold-packed cranium.

"I need you to do something else right now," Ami explained her refusal, "Look into my eyes."

Makoto followed the directive the best she could, meeting Ami's concerned azure gaze. In Makoto's fuzzy mind, a thought struck her, and she smiled, "Hey doc, I feel better already, I got a little angel looking over me," A rosy tinge decorated Ami's cheeks, but she looked searchingly into Makoto's eyes, making sure that they were focused and responsive, "Follow my finger with just your eyes," she continued her direction as though she hadn't been interrupted. She held her finger up before Makoto's face, and moved it back and forth. Alert green eyes followed her easily.

"I'm fine, Ami-chan. One hell of a headache, but my brain isn't any more rattled than usual."

Ami frowned at her, but sighed, relenting, "Fine, Mako-chan, whatever you say. You're at _least_ to lay down for a while, though. Doctor's orders," she tacked onto the end, to preempt argument. Ami helped her up and over to the couch, Makoto not protesting the this time. She sat down in the middle of the couch and lay down,.moving slowly to avoid becoming dizzy again. Minako had helpfully taken the ice packs up and offered them to Makoto, who arranged them comfortably, keeping one held to her temple. Then she looked down quickly, inviting another hammer to join in on the fun times occurring at her brain, when she felt her legs hoisted up. Ami was sitting on the other end of the couch, Makoto's legs in her lap.

"Which leg was cut again, Mako-chan?"

Makoto groaned, thinking she had been done, and slapped the left lightly. Ami began rolling up her baggy pant leg, and made another disapproving noise in her throat at what was more a jagged tear than a cut in Makoto's skin. The others in the room made their own little gasps and sounds of concern, bringing a flush to Makoto's face.

"Jeez you guys, we've all been hurt before, and more badly than this besides. Stop making such a big deal out of me."

They all looked at Makoto's discomfited expression and smiled, sharing a knowing glance amongst themselves. They were still waiting for the day Makoto lost an arm, just so they could see their tall friend say, "Nah, it's no big deal, but could one of you give me a hand with kneading some dough later? You can even use my hand, if you like, it's lying over there."

Rei gestured to Ami, "Anything you need? Maybe a muzzle, if she keeps complaining about the tender loving care that she's receiving?" Rei looked meaningfully at Makoto as she asked the question, though it was directed to Ami.

"Could I get a couple of hand towels, some hot, soapy water, and a bandage? That should be fine, thanks, Rei-chan." Ami started unlacing Makoto's high-top shoe and pulling off her sock, and when Rei arrived back she got to work on washing the dried blood from Makoto's leg, paying careful attention to the cut itself. While she did so, she nodded to Usagi.

"I can still talk while I take care of Mako-chan. You should be aware that your city was just attacked by armed civilians."

"We got that, Ami-chan," Rei interrupted, "But you said that they were taken care of, didn't you?"

"This group was," Ami said darkly, "But until we get some answers directly from those who were arrested, I have my own concerns. They were armed with old military-class firearms. Three with automatic weaponry, one with a more accurate, high-powered rifle. I didn't take any good look at them, but they were obviously illegal for civilian possession. Usagi-chan, in the Silver Millennium, the black market has had to go farther underground than it ever has been. You have to have fantastic resources and know a remarkable number of the 'right' people to make a purchase like that, and these four didn't strike me as wealthy."

"So we have a group of four armed men--"

"One woman," Ami corrected,

"Four armed people with illegal firearms setting off an explosion in Crystal Toky--"

"That's right!" Ami started, "The explosion! I almost forgot to mention, but there was something bothering me about that. We shouldn't jump to any conclusions before a formal investigation, but there didn't seem to be anywhere near enough heat damage or shrapnel to account for the shock wave that most of the city felt at least a tremor of. Almost like it wasn't made to cause that much destruction, but just..."

"To get our attention!" Minako finished the statement, snapping her fingers. The senshi all shared a glance as that sunk in.

"Okay," Rei started again, more somberly, "We have four armed people setting off a specialized explosive in Crystal Tokyo. They remained hidden until there were senshi on the scene, then initiated fire directed at those senshi. It seems it was too early to discount terrorism, Princess."

"You really think so, Rei?" Jupiter asked in mock wonder, though a little grin told the other girl she wasn't trying to be offensive, "Ah, hey, a little more gentle, please, Ami-chan," Ami raised an eyebrow innocently at her after having scrubbed just a touch rougher than necessary across Makoto's injury, while Rei rolled her eyes.

"You'd think the one of us who was actually _hurt_ would be taking this more seriously,"

"I'm taking it plenty seriously. Excuse me for being a little relieved that I only have a bump instead of a hole in my skull, though. I do want to say something, though. We're all going to feel really silly if we start publishing conspiracy theories, then it turns out this was just some wackos who stumbled across a crazed army vet's stash in the woods. We should just take a deep breath and go on with our lives until the police can tell us something a little more concrete, I think." Normally Makoto knew she would be as enthusiastic as the rest of them in wanting to prepare and discuss and plan and act. For today, however, she just wanted to get home, take some aspirin, make some tea, and...her eyes tracked back over to Ami, now expertly wrapping a bandage around her calf. The Sailor Senshi already won today, right? Hadn't they saved the world from mortal peril enough times before that she could shirk just a bit, a _teeny _little bit, this one day?

"Mako-chan is right," Usagi spoke up after a lengthy pause, "Even if we sit here all day thinking about what might have been going on, we won't _know, _and we won't be able to think confidently about any of it," the others, even Rei after a moment of sullen consideration, nodded their heads.

"We'll all meet back here tomorrow, then," Rei declared.

"Right," they answered in unison.

"All done, Mako-chan," Ami added afterward. Makoto looked down and wiggled her foot.

"Good as new," she said. Taking a deep breath, she could feel the dizzy nausea that had stricken her for a bit fading as well, and the pain in her skull had faded to a steady background thrum, rather than the sensation of somebody swinging a full-bass boombox at her head. She gingerly swung her legs down and rose to a sitting position on her end of the couch. To her surprise, Ami scooted closer, and put a hand on her shoulder. She leaned in closely, and Makoto felt her heart beat a little faster.

"Ami-chffferff--" Makoto was unfortunate enough to get a good taste of lukewarm soapy towel as the Ami reached up to scrub the line of dried blood from her cheek. Ami took the towel away and left the other sputtering, smiling sweetly. Then she meticulously gathering the soiled rags, and the two ice packs Makoto had left on the arm of the couch.

"Hey, Ami-chan, you don't have to--"  
"I've already got it," came the reply, and Ami disappeared through the entryway to the kitchen. Minako was the next to gather their attention,

"I need to go and talk to the police, too," she said, "Get a little something for my story on the evening news, even if I am still a serious leg-up on the competition. It's good being inside the loop," she poked the tip of her tongue out mischievously at them and stood, straightening her skirt. With her exit, Rei rounded on Usagi, who shrank back at whatever she saw in Rei's eyes.

"Remember what I said about paperwork, Princess? You'll probably be hearing from legal representatives from the company, the police, the employees, the employee's families, the police's families, the next-door neighbor's second cousin's niece of a pet-shop owner who sold a ferret to a man who was walking a couple of blocks away from the explosion... You're going to be busy for a while."

"Gee, thanks," Usagi glowered at her friend, and turned to Makoto, "Rei-chan is still a meanie."

"Some things just don't change," Rei retorted, "Come on now, the sooner you get started, the sooner we'll be done."

"_We'll _be done?"

"You think it's easy making sure you you don't run off and take a nap? I found out the hard way that you don't actually need to _age_ to grow gray hairs. You know, this wouldn't be so bad if you'd hire a proper staff, you know." Rei spoke with the tired tone of one who was trying yet again to argue a point that she'd never gotten across,

"But it's me they want to hear from to, isn't it? It wouldn't be fair to make them talk to some stranger when they obviously need to be reassured by their graceful, talented, intelligent, gentle, beautiful Queen."

"I'm so glad you think so," Rei took her by the arm and started dragging her from the room. Usagi scrambled to regain her feet and drew alongside her friend with a sigh of resignation, making a face at her back and winking at Makoto. She smiled as the pair left the room. Here they were, going on four years now--or was it five? It was still somewhat surreal to know that she'd only had these friends for that long. Five years, and they still managed to keep up the way they always had. She supposed that kind of perseverance would come in handy over the next forever or two.

Makoto stood and took a deep breath, thinking about that. Three years had been hard enough without trying to consider forever. She started towards the kitchen, and was brought face to face with Ami on her way out.

"Mako-chan, you're still here? I heard everybody else leaving and thought you'd gone with them," Ami seemed surprised.

"Oh, no. I wanted to talk to you."

"I see," Ami responded, shuffling her feet uncomfortably, "But I'm, ah... in a hurry right now, I need to get back to the library. I left my things in there from when I was studying earlier, and the place is probably still a dreadful mess..." Ami edged past her as she spoke, apparently eager to leave.

"Oh, uh, sure," Makoto said , "But you can still come over later, right?"

"Of course," Ami answered hastily, then stopped, turning around for a moment, "It... really is good to see you again, Mako-chan."

Makoto smiled tightly, and nodded, "See you later, then. Drop by in an hour or so? I needed to stop by the grocery store anyway."

"I'll look forward to it," Ami smiled, and exited through the back of the living quarters, in the direction Makoto assumed the library was in. Makoto stayed where she was for a minute, wondering over the disparity in what Ami had said, and how she had said it. If Ami was so happy to see her, why did she look so uncomfortable, and why did she seem in such a hurry to leave, when they finally had a moment to themselves?

Makoto wandered through the aisles of the supermarket nearby her apartment after she'd bought some aspirin and swallowed a few down. Now then, what was she going to serve? Should she go with foods that she knew Ami liked, to try and make her feel comfortable and know that Makoto still remembered these things, or perhaps she should try and make something new and interesting, maybe foreign? Maybe she should show Ami how worldly she, too, had become in these years. Perhaps she should look up some classic American food? But Ami was probably sick of that, living there for so long... or maybe she preferred it to Japanese cuisine?

Anyway, where did sandwiches fall in there? Those were kind of world-round, weren't they? It could matter what was put into them, Makoto ventured. She stopped in the midst of a step, casting her eyes around the store.

No, she would just make what she always used to. If Ami had changed and Makoto didn't know about it... well, she though with some irritation, it wouldn't be all her fault, now would it? She rushed through the store and grabbed everything she would need, thankful for the bountiful summertime months as she gathered a bag of fresh fruit from the produce section. She made another stop at her favorite bakery to pick up a fresh, warm loaf of bread, and headed back to the little slice of Tokyo that she called home. On the way, she found herself slowing down outside a little shop that she normally didn't give a second glance. Would a bottle of wine be out of place? Was it too early in the day for that, was this was the correct kind of occasion? Did Ami even drink?

Makoto didn't. Not for any moral reasons, or even health reasons, she just wasn't that fond of the sensation the times she had tried, and tended to be more satisfied engaging in her usual hobbies and activities. Even so, she thought of sitting across from Ami at a candlelit table with a glass of finely aged, fruity, bittersweet drink between them, slowly going through it over the course of the night, the loneliness she had felt draining from her as liquid from the bottle, talking for hours and hours, making their way to the bedroom, losing herself in an utter lack of worries or inhibitions or caution...

Because, after all, that's what Ami would expect when she came over for a cup of tea. Makoto rolled her eyes at her own foolishness and continued walking. Then she stopped, and took one look back. A few minutes later later she walked out of the store with a dark bottle scripted "Centine Rosé". She didn't know much about wine, really, but she liked the sound of the name, and the owner had been more than happy to tell her about it, extolling its wonderful sweetness and beautiful, coral pink hue that only truly came alive when seen in the romantic light of a candle. The last he'd added with certain mysteriously suggestive smile that made heat rise to her face, but she'd bought it anyway and hurried out.

Once back in her apartment, she hung up her light jacket in her closet with some relief. It a little warm for that, but it had been overcast and drizzly in the morning, so she'd been stuck with it. On her way to the kitchen, she passed her open bathroom door and caught site of her reflection. She frowned, feeling suddenly... plain. She went back into her bedroom and ransacked her closet, eventually finding a ruffled lime-green blouse and tight-fitting pair of tan slacks that she liked the look of. Not too formal, but she thought they complimented her nicely. She dressed and stood before the mirror, hands on her hips. She frowned once more, and unbuttoned a few buttons down her blouse. Then she buttoned one back with an embarrassed gasp of laughter.

She got the feeling that she was worrying about this far, far too much, but indulging in a little girlish fretting helped keep her mind off of more serious and potentially painful thoughts. She wanted to think about seeing Ami _now,_ not about what had or hadn't happened in the past.

So she stormed into the kitchen and tied on an apron, to keep from messing up the clothes she'd just now so carefully chosen, and started slicing tomatoes and cheese with a completely unnecessary amount of care and attention. It worked, though, she didn't think about anything but what she was doing, and she ended up with what may have been the most perfectly sliced sandwich ingredients that had ever been prepared. She made a little plate of finger sandwiches and put them into the fridge, and prepared all the fruit she'd bought into a fruit dish, which she also put away for later. Just in time, too, as she was just untying her apron strings when she heard a polite knock at the door.

"Come on in!" She called in response. Ami opened the door as Makoto was crossing through the sitting room, standing with her hands clasped in front of her and around the strap of her bag, looking unsure of herself.

"Come on _in_, I said," Makoto chided, "Have a seat, make yourself at home. I'll be back in a sec," Makoto tossed her apron unceremoniously atop her bed. Before she walked back, however, she walked back in and placed it more tidily upon a hook hanging on the back of her door. If, for some reason, they found themselves in the bedroom, Makoto didn't want anything getting in the way--of Ami's having a good opinion of her housekeeping. Couldn't have things just lying about.

"So, what can I interest you in? Tea, coffee... uh, wine?" Makoto tried to sound nonchalant about the suggestion, walking back into the room to find Ami sitting, still looking vaguely uncomfortable, on the couch in front of a low, clear glass table.

"Tea, please," Ami replied graciously enough, however, without so much as a batted eyelash at the last suggestion.

"Sure thing, I'll have it ready in a jiff," belatedly, Makoto remembered that she hadn't lit any candles anyway, so it really wasn't a good wine occasion. Ami _had _accepted an invitation to tea, at any rate. As Makoto took down a few cups from the cupboard, she reasoned that these things were supposed to improve with age anyway, so she would just have to invite Ami over again, for dinner. Perhaps tomorrow. Except, that they might be busy tomorrow. Possibly longer than that. Makoto pouted to herself, why did the reason that Ami was here also have to be the reason that Makoto wouldn't be able to spend time with her...

She paused at that thought. The reason that Ami was here? That... why had Makoto suddenly thought that it was for the incident earlier? That didn't make any sense, they hadn't brought Ami in from overseas to look at a smoking building. What had she come back to Japan for? Also, how _long_ had she been here?

Makoto too the water she'd had heated on the stove and poured them over teabags in the bottoms of the cups, carrying them carefully back into the main room and setting one in front of Ami, who was now looking curiously at a paperback book. Makoto recognized it as the one she'd been reading before her class; she must have left it out earlier. Ami smiled appreciatively, and Makoto settled in her plushy pink armchair.

"As you can see, I still have a little soft spot for the occasional romance," she gestured to the volume held by Ami's slender fingers.

"I do see. I just finished this one last week, would you believe? You must tell me what you think of the ending," Ami reached into her bag and pulled out a slim bookmark, slipping it between the two pages that her finger had been separating. "You shouldn't leave your books splayed out like that, though," she added, referring to the way Makoto had left it on the arm of her chair. Ami picked up her cup, but paused before drinking as Makoto spoke,

"So, I didn't know you were in town," the brunette remarked. Ami's expression and posture tensed, and she set her cup back on the table with a soft _clink_.

"Ah, you see, I'd only arrived the day before yesterday, and I won't be here long. My mother invited me to talk to a colleague of hers, a doctor who's been very influential in the field of research I want to write my thesis on. It's really a fascinating field--" she started, eyes brightening, but she cut herself off at the expression on Makoto's face, a certain raise of one eyebrow and tilt to her head that said, _"You know I won't have a clue what you're talking about, and you know you're avoiding the question."_

"--that I would like to talk with him about. I was only going to be here for a few days, a week at the latest."

Makoto made a noncommittal noise as she took another sip, "I wish I would have known, I just spent my morning lazing about here. reading. Would have been nice to get to see you a little more, if you won't be here long. Or to see you at all," Makoto continued, voice rising slightly in spite of herself, "I mean, were you even planning on letting me know you were in town, or were you just going to leave without saying a word!?"

Ami looked taken aback, and hurt, but her brows furrowed and she responded with a similar heat, "I'm sorry, I didn't know that you would care if I was in town. You didn't seem to care where I was or what I was doing for quite some time now, how was I to know that had changed today? At least, today is the only time I've ever gotten anything from you saying that you care. I wonder why that is?" Ami's voice was dripping sarcasm and hurt.

Makoto had regretted getting angry at some level, knowing that an exceptional amount of it wasn't really directed at Ami, but at herself. Ami's words stung, though, and didn't help to calm her.

"Didn't know that I would _care_? You were the one that jumped on that plane with a big smile and a cheerful wave. You were the one that left!"

"Is... is that what you're getting angry about? It was over, Mako-chan, the Silver Millennium started, we didn't need the senshi all here anymore. I had dreams, too, you knew that! Don't you dare start yelling at me for abandoning some responsibility. Today, when trouble came, I was here, wasn't I?"

"No, no," Makoto shook her head furiously, but didn't know how to proceed. No, I'm really angry at myself, because I couldn't say those three little words before you left? That wasn't Ami's fault, but... "You're right, I did know all of that. But were those dreams so important to you that you couldn't spare a single minute for old friends? I haven't heard from you this entire time, Ami-chan."

"Likewise. However, as I said, I didn't know you _wanted_ to hear from me. You never called, either. Never wrote. I got to America, got to my dorm room. Alone in a strange, new place, farther from home than I'd ever been... I kept hoping that somebody would call. I wanted to hear a familiar voice, I wanted to hear _your _voice. But I didn't. Usagi-chan called a lot, so did Minako. Even Rei checked in now and again. But I never heard from you."

Makoto worked her mouth for a response, but came up empty. How could she ever explain? Pacing her living room, looking at the phone later that day. Picking it up, staring at the number Ami had given her. Her fingers hovering over the buttons, trembling. Curling into a ball on her bed that evening, only able to think that it would be years before she'd ever see her again. Spending all that sleepless night remembering times spent together; at the park, movies, bookstore, cafés and sweetshops, or just hanging out at one another's homes. Feeling bitter, knowing that she'd become less and less able to deny what she was feeling, and still not able to just talk about it with the person that she should have been able to talk about anything with. Berating herself for not just coming _out _with it. It didn't make any sense to Makoto, thinking of her title, the Senshi of Courage, with contempt. Why, then was something that seemed so simple doing so much to freeze her lips and cloud her mind?

Makoto hadn't called because... she didn't know what to say. She wanted to hear Ami first, to let Ami's sweet voice bring her back to a time when they could talk for hours about everything and nothing. Ami hadn't called. The weeks had gone by, and turned to months, and then years, with each passing moment the idea of picking up the phone becoming more and more difficult.

After a long moment, Ami stood coolly, "Is that what you wanted to talk about, Mako-...to-san? You might as well step down. Being taller does not, I think, give you any right to look down on me. In any case, thank you for the invitation, but just now recall that I have an important engagement later this evening, and should probably spend the rest of my day doing something more worthwhile," Makoto felt burned by the acidic tone of Ami's words, so uncharacteristically harsh of that gentle voice.

"Fine," Makoto answered, her voice coming back to her as she retaliated to the pain in her heart, "I can just pretend today didn't happen. Then everything can be just how you would have preferred. You can go back to your studies, just forget I said anything. Shouldn't be too hard to do, you've had plenty of practice at forgetting."

"So you're still going to stay with that, are you? I don't forget my friends, unlike some. I'll see you tomorrow, Makoto-san, perhaps we can one again behave civilly in front of the others? Thank you again for your assistance earlier, and for your kindly provided beverage," Ami finished neutrally, taking steps to the door.

"And thank _you _for tending to me earlier so kindly, and making me think, for a moment, that you still cared. You should have become an actress, forget about the doctor thing."

Makoto felt a cruel streak of bittersweet pleasure when she saw Ami's back stiffen, but the girl left the apartment without another word. There was silence in the room. Makoto finished her tea mechanically, watching the cup that Ami hadn't actually managed to touch. Thin wisps of steam curled from it, growing ever smaller until they vanished into the air. Makoto knew it was little more than lukewarm, cooled like the fire that had raged in her chest moments before. With a crooked smile, she took a sip from that other cup. Yes, it was bitter, also like her heart. She walked into her bedroom and sat on the edge of her bed. With a muffled sob, she buried her head in her hands. What just _happened, _why had she said those things? Now that her irrational anger with Ami--and herself--had loosened its iron grip on her stomach, she felt sick. What had happened between them? Ami had been so distant, Makoto had been able to feel the separation between them in the other room. There was a wall there now, high and thick and long. A wall that she had helped to build. The thought alone made her feel tired, more tired and drained than she could ever remember feeling, far too exhausted to consider climbing the wall. She had not even the burning passion for life, always kindled in her heart, left to keep her going. It had just walked out of her door.


	3. Chapter 3

The pale luminescence of a bright full moon splashed over her room and across her eyes as Makoto came awake. She worked her throat and scraped a dry, sticky tongue around in vain search for moisture. Gummy, heavy eyelids laboriously creaked upwards over protesting eyes. Working her stiff arms to lever herself from the bed, she paused for a minute to untangle herself from twisted sheets. In the bathroom, she flipped on the light and squinted in the sudden brightness. Bitingly cold water filled her cupped hands and she splashed it into her face and eyes to invigorate herself. She repeated the process several times, lastly gulping down several cupped handfuls to sooth her throat. Amidst wiping moisture from her mouth with swipe of her sleeve, she paused and stared into the mirror. An unpleasant and unsavory individual was looking back at her with dull puffy eyes and wild unkempt hair that stuck out every which way from a ponytail that curled down to wrinkled, twisted clothing. Looking steadily at this creature, she reached a hand to the side and turned off the light.

The kitchen presented itself as an excellent next goal to stumble towards. Through the sitting room she noted that it was two o'clock in the morning. Time for breakfast, her stomach told her. She made a meal of a plate of cold sandwiches and a glass of water, swallowing the slight lump that formed in her throat when she saw the plate in the refrigerator. She leaned over the counter on her elbows and chewed thoughtfully.

Wasn't this a pleasant scene, she thought. It was her fault. What was the matter _with _her? She knew, though.Even now amidst what regret she felt, she could still detect a dull, red streak of resentment underlying her feelings. This certainly wasn't the _first_ time that her temper had gotten her into more than she could handle, but this could make a case for being the worst. When Makoto had heard that Ami had been here for several days already, and that chances were she would never have known, it had felt like a stinging slap to her cheek. She'd struck back. Weighing both scenarios, she also thought that she'd much rather try to get herself into a fistfight with Sailor Uranus again, than have to look Ami in the face later today.

She wearily shook her head, and polished off the last sandwich from the pile. Still feeling out of sorts, she also took out the cups of anmitsu that she'd prepared earlier. Pouring both into a bow and tossing a couple scoops of cherry vanilla ice cream on top. Just the kind of summer dish that would have been a delight to share, she thought; Ami would have enjoyed it.

Her fingers spread wide over the cold, hard kitchen counter. It was two in the morning, she had ice cream, and she felt quite distinctly blue. There was only one thing to do. She changed locale to the living room, turned on the floor lamp in the corner, and curled up on the couch. Her book lay on the table, Ami's slender mark sticking from the pages. Makoto gently drew it out. She held it carefully between two fingers, then placed it carefully atop her low table. For now, time to ignore her own problems in sweet, sticky sugar and a sweet, sticky romance, wherein everything worked out fine.

Six hours later, a bowl of long-congealed syrup lay on the floor by the couch, spoon slowly cementing into it, and Makoto was turning the last page with relished enjoyment. Makoto thought about the last, tenderly romantic scene with a smile, which turned quickly to a grimace. Groaning, she dropped her head onto the arm of the couch and wearily laid the book open across her eyes. Her first thought then had been of Ami, but chances were the other girl didn't want to hear about the book now. Or ever.

Tears, sleep, ice cream, novel; now she was thinking much more clearly, and growled in frustration at herself. If there was one good thing about being the rash and decisive senshi, however, it was that Makoto never felt too embarrassed about correcting her mistakes. She would just have to apologize. She didn't even need an excuse to go see Ami, as they were all meeting back later today anyway. After it was over with, Makoto could draw Ami aside, apologize for her behavior, and try to explain why she'd become so upset. That would be hard to tell without explaining _everything, _but that didn't matter to Makoto now. However Ami responded, it could not be any worse than the way things stood now, and had only a chance to become better. Double to gain and nothing to lose; Makoto liked those kind of odds.

_--_

Filled with determined rational or no, she still approached Usagi's door with trepidation. Tightening and loosing fingers with restless tension, she filled her lungs and resolve and walked inside. The others were already there, Minako, Usagi, and Rei chatting animatedly around the table, while Ami sat with serene eyes fixed on some book or another in her lap. Ami was still the first to look up, however, and observe Makoto with such wintry regard that she felt a chill whisper over the base of her neck.

"Everyone, Makoto-san has arrived," she stated, slightly stiffly.

"Finally," Minako greeted her with a smile, "We've got some..." Minako's voice trailed away, her clear eyes blinking a few times. Rei and Usagi were going through similar reactions, and all three stared at Ami. Azure eyes merely looked impassively back to her book, ignoring them, so they all three turned their stupefied gazes to Makoto instead. She felt heat rising to her cheeks,

"What's the matter with all of you, do I have something stuck in my teeth? What news from the boys in blue?" Makoto spoke with feigned unconcern, pasting on a thin smile that she hoped looked as thought it came from somebody confident, rather than slightly sick to her stomach. Minako and Usagi looked at her as expected, brows furrowed and staring in clear disbelief to her assumed attitude, but Rei was a bit more sympathetic. She didn't appear any more convinced, but at least moved on without another question.

"We heard back from the interrogators, and the good news is the two perpetrators sang like habitual drunks."

"Wait, how's that?" Minako interrupted with a raised eyebrow.

"Loudly, enthusiastically, and off-key," Rei answered, "The only consistent information we got out of them is a claim that they're from Brazil. Not Brazilian citizens, but they purport that the rest of what they describe as their 'army' is located within the nation's borders. This is where their stories diverge. One places their base of operations an hour southwest of Manaus, the other about two hours northeast of the city of Bonito," as she spoke, Ami took an interest and walked over to the computer in the corner of the room.

"That's quite a disparity, Rei-chan," she noted, waving the others over to look. Both the cities were a good distance inland from the coast, though on the banks of the Amazon river. One was far north, the other far south.

"What about the other two that were there?" Makoto inquired.

"The woman who was shot is in intensive care. Stable, but still not conscious. The other--"

"Absolutely refused to talk, mm-hmm. Solid as a rock, he was, not getting a word out of him," Usagi interrupted Rei, speaking in a strangely clipped, hasty manner. Ami was still intent on the screen before her, so she couldn't see, but Makoto was well able to catch the nervous glance that Usagi threw at Ami's back.

"...right," Rei affirmed after a pause, "He didn't say a word," Makoto noted also an uncomfortable twist to Rei's lips.

"So, ah," Minako ventured, clearing the suddenly thick air around the conversation, "They said something about having an army? Like, a real one?"

"They're probably exaggerating," Rei answered, "These kind of groups would have a tendency to exaggerate their own importance, even to--maybe especiallyto--their own membership. Nobody's come out to take credit, which is a little unusual, but as their mission didn't exactly produce anything more than three captured--"

"Four!" Usagi hissed.

"Er, yes, four, four captured operatives," Rei corrected herself lamely, "and one dead TPD officer, it's not that unusual that nobody would want to claim responsibility. There might not be any real reason to think there's more out there, but we can't ignore the threat.. Like Ami-chan noted yesterday, they have to have some kind of serious financial backing, which is worrisome enough in itself."

Makoto watched Ami turn around in her chair, a pained look to her eyes. Her deep blue eyes blinked rapidly, and Makoto was sure Usagi was wasting her time trying to continue any deception by this point. Makoto tried to steer the discussion to less sensitive matters,

"Right, right, Rei-chan, I don't think any of us were planning on ignoring what happened. So, what now, couldn't we just buzz over with some spy planes and see what's up?"

"Actually, we can't. The jungle canopy makes air reconnaissance next to useless. Besides, any secret organization worth their salt would go to ground for at least a little bit after their operatives get captured. With good reason, as it happens. So, I suppose we could try to send in some ground espionage, but it would be a good hike, and the chances of their finding anything..." Rei shrugged, "Anybody have any other suggestions?"

"Do we need any other suggestions?" Makoto spoke up first, "Reconnaissance is what we need, and ground is the way to go. I don't have anything I really _need _to be doing for a little while. When do I leave?"

"What!?" Usagi exclaimed, "Mako-chan, what are you talking about? You're not going anywhere!"

"Is that a royal order, my Queen?" Makoto asked with a raised eyebrow, "Who _better_ to send? When the senshi aren't running around in skirts and blowing things up, we're nondescript teenage girls; not exactly your soldier archetype. Plus, I wouldn't have to lug around any weaponry or conspicuous communications gear. Heck, I wouldn't even need a lighter to start a campfire, when you get right down to it. A senshi is ideal. And, out of the senshi, who's best suited for a nice, arduous trek through a jungle with chance for combat?"

"Not you."

Makoto turned to Ami, surprised.

"Why not?"

"Can you navigate, for one? Could you expand short supplies with edible plants? Tend your wounds if you got hurt? Protect yourself from poisonous creatures and various toxic plants? Can you communicate with the native populace, or work with the local currency? That is, I'm sure you could handle whomever came your way, if you ever find anything." With every question, Makoto felt doubts grow in her sureness. The last rebuke, however, even delivered in Ami's gentle voice, served to ignite her temper. It did not supply her with any adequate rebuttals, though. She looked stonily into Ami's frosty gaze, and they held one another as such long enough to make the others in the room uncomfortable.

"Oh come on now, for goodness sake! What's _wrong _with you two?" Minako demanded.

"Nothing," Makoto said shortly, followed by Ami just after,

"Not a thing. I was just about to propose that I accompany Makoto-san, I had no idea she would be so against the idea..."

"Wait, what? I thought you had to be back to your studies in a week?"

"I believe that, quite some time ago, I answered this question: 'What I'm doing here is far more important.' That hasn't changed, whatever else may have."

"I'm sure I could get by..." Makoto mumbled stubbornly, the implication that she had obligated Ami into doing something that she would rather not irking her. How exactly she planned to do that, and why exactly she wanted to try, Makoto wasn't sure, but this wasn't the way she wanted things to be.

Unseen to the both of them so engrossed in the other, conflict flickered unhappily in Usagi's furrowed brow and worried lips. Usagi's concern for her friends battled with Serenity's concern for her Kingdom, and it was only when Rei noticed and her and whispered into her ear that she relaxed a few degrees. She still wasn't happy, though, as she turned her lips down at her bodyguard, and said to the rest of the room,

"Fine, fine. Fine! If anybody can do what needs to be done _and_ come back in one piece, it's the two of you together. _Both _of you get ready to go at whatever time you decide, because you're _both _going. Royal decree and everything," Usagi walked first to Makoto and wrapped her in a fierce embrace, then kissed her on the cheek, "Don't do anything stupid," she warned her occasionally headstrong friend. Then she walked to Ami and repeated the process, the only change being her warning, "You don't do anything stu..." She paused, and struggled for words, "Never mind. Just be careful."

Usagi pulled away before either of them could say anything in return, sauntering despondently across the room. Rei turned soft lavender eyes to her but before she went to comfort her princess, she spoke sharply to the pair taking still fuming indirectly at one another,

"Interestingly, Mamoru said that he expected you two to volunteer, but perhaps not _quite _like that. Maybe you can few days you can work out whatever bug crawled into both your panties before you leave, you heard the royal decree," Ami averted her eyes uncomfortably at Rei's edged tone, while Makoto just regarded her coolly and invited her to continue with a curt gesture, "Also, he didn't want to appear rude by cutting short his diplomatic tour of European heads of government, but his Highness said he'll be back in a few weeks to turn his effort to this problem."

"Also Luna and Artemis," Minako added, "They're getting a little pudgy from all the peace and quiet, a little electronic snooping will be good for them. Don't think you have to figure everything out yourselves and save all mankind, you have friends that will be working too."

"Right, right," Makoto assured them with a devil-may-care grin, "We'll be good. Eh, Ami-chan?" Makoto addressed her friend almost habitually, forgetting for a split-second their differences. A warm spring breeze drifted through Ami's eyes, though Makoto thought that it was likely for the benefit of the other senshi in the room, rather than for her.

"We will. Please don't worry yourselves too much. We'll come back safely, I promise, Usagi-chan," Ami called out lastly, to the Queen who was still sulking a little bit in the back of the room.

"Then... that's a promise, Ami-chan. I know you wouldn't break a promise, and if you do, you'll be sorry," Usagi ignored the complete absurdity of that remark as she pouted. She sniffed loudly, eliciting a roll of the eyes from Rei,

"Don't bother trying to talk to her right now. She'll get over it. I think you twohave your own problems to think about. Act stupid and get yourselves hurt, and she's gonna get hurt too, keep that in mind."

Makoto's hard mask dissolved in Rei's caustic tone, and she wondered how exactly she'd ended up in this situation anyway, when she'd meant to apologize. With a self-conscious laugh at making the others worry about her, she turned to Ami, but found her standing up and walking towards the door.

"Huh--hey, wait, Ami-chan!"

"I have to make a phone call, back in a minute," Ami nodded her head shortly at Makoto, voice calm, but Makoto thought she saw an odd look to her eyes. The light wooden door frame slid and clacked shut, leaving her standing with her hand raised to emptiness. She collapsed back into a chair with a dissatisfied grunt, and saw Minako looking down at her.

"Don't ask," she sighed, "You know I won't answer."

Minako opened her mouth as though she might test that, but shrugged and picked up her bag. Makoto watched her walk out. She rolled her eyes over to see Rei whispering with her chin resting on Usagi's shoulder, though the queen didn't look as though she were any more fond of current events than she had been. Makoto shrugged, figuring that as long as Usagi was going to be all mopey anyway, she might as well have as much reason as possible,

"So one of the terrorists died," Makoto spoke, more a statement than a question.

Rei and Usagi froze. Clenching her fist, Rei answered with a simple,

"Yes."

"Ami-chan got him."

"Yes."

"The sharpshooter?"

"It wasn't her fault!" Rei said defensively, "The rhapsody didn't really... but the fall--"

Usagi interrupted, "You aren't going to tell her, are you, Mako-chan?"

Makoto closed her eyes, "I think she already knows."

Usagi didn't reply. Makoto relaxed and tried to patiently wait. Ami didn't return.

_--_

Makoto tried asking Usagi and Rei where Ami was staying, but they told her quite clearly that they weren't going to unless she told them what was going on. Makoto left, and went back to her apartment. Chagrined, she washed and put away the plate and bowls that she discovered she'd left out. Then she sat herself splayed out on her couch, wondering at her next action. Ami hadn't come back, though she said she only needed to make a phone call. A phone call...

Makoto lurched up, eyes wide. How could she have not realized... she put her fingers to her temple, though she was smiling now. This was no problem. Sh reached into her pocket, and drew out her communicator. She activated it and prepared to signal Ami. Her fingers froze over the pad.

She blinked rapidly. This was familiar, too familiar. Was it really going to be so easy right now, making this call? It was all she had needed to do for quite a while now, and hadn't been able to. Was it because Ami was here again, and she wasn't worrying about not getting to see her? Makoto wondered that it could really be so simple. Or perhaps there was another reason. She was certainly worried about Ami, how she hadn't returned, and how she'd behaved when she was leaving. Makoto shook her head angrily. This wasn't the time to be stewing over the past. She wanted to call Ami now, so she would, that was all there was to it.

She depressed the key, hand trembling despite herself as she held the communicator awaiting a response. She wasn't sure if she was just nervous, or if it actually took the other quite some time to find that somebody was trying to talk with her, but it felt like an hour before the device came to life and she heard Ami's voice.

"Makoto--" Her very first word was enough to frustrate Makoto, and she interrupted.

"Ami-chan, stop that! I'm sorry, I really am," she said in a rush. There was a startled pause on the other end of the line, that continued. Makoto grew nervous again,

"Ami-chan? Really, truly, I didn't mean all of those things I said, it's just that..." Makoto took a deep breath, "The thing is, that honestly, I--"

"I'm sorry too, Mako-chan. You just asked a question, and I got angry as well."

Makoto stood with the communicator, mouth agape. She felt as though she were deflating. Gone was the vision she'd had of gradually winning over an angry Ami with apologies and explanations. Without that reason, she found that she was having more difficulty bringing up any explanations.

"Maybe neither of us really knows why we didn't keep in contact, but we can't blame one another. Friends again, Mako-chan?"

Makoto felt her resolve shrinking further. She did feel a sense of relief in that, while before there was still a chance that she and Ami might have remained distant, now it seemed as though that were going to be helped for sure. She smiled.

"Friends, Ami-chan," she said, but then remembered the other reason she'd called, "I wanted to apologize earlier—sorry for getting irritated when we were with the others—but then you left and never came back. Is everything all right?"

"Er... fine, Mako-chan. Everything is--" Makoto frowned at her evasive tone, and her expression made its way into her voice as she said,

"Hey now, you just said friends again, let's not start doing secrets again already."

"Really, it's no big deal--"

"Good, then it won't matter if you talk about it."

On the other end of the line, Ami laughed softly. She really didn't want to talk about her troubles, but this hearkened back to many other times that Makoto had bulled her way into making Ami be more open about her concerns. Come to think of it, she usually ended up feeling better at the end of those sessions, even if nothing had changed or been fixed. None of those times had been quite like this, however. Makoto quickly saved her the troubled of bringing the subject up, at least.

"Is it about the man whose death you may have caused?" Makoto said bluntly.

"Usagi-chan wasn't very good about hiding that, was she?"

"It was more Rei-chan that kept forgetting she was supposed to be hiding something."

"It was nice that they tried, though," Ami said sadly.

"Was it?" Makoto asked.

"What do you mean?"

"They're acting like you did something unspeakably awful, Ami-chan. You didn't mean to hurt him that badly, and you may have saved my life in the process—and the life of that woman terrorist as well. Don't forget, this was the same man that shot at you, and shot me, and killed that police officer. All of that, and you still didn't_ mean_ to kill the guy. There's not a lot of people in the world that would do that."

"But maybe I could have--"

"Maybe you could have, but maybe I would have ended up dead, and you might have, and innocent people might have. Maybes are good to consider for the future, Ami, not the past. Although, maybe I could have though about how you'd be feeling about this before I got all cranky earlier," Makoto realized that she probably hadn't helped this at all, Ami was going through plenty enough without the person who was supposed to be her best friend attacking her as well.

"Thank you, Mako-chan. I feel a little silly about it now, just running off like that."

"Nah, we didn't give you much reason to do otherwise, with hem walking on eggshells and me, well..."

"Right. Perhaps I was being a little cold, though."

"Just maybe," Makoto agreed. This wasn't so hard, she was coming to decide. This still felt a little different, of course, a touch more formal than they used to be, a little more careful. She couldn't even try to convince herself that the feeling between them was the same as it had been before Ami left. Things were, however, looking up.

"So did you even have a phone call to make?"

"Yes, I did. I inquired, and moved up my interview with the doctor to tomorrow. I still want to get that taken care of before we leave."

Makoto's eyes widened. Of all the things to forget, but she had, she was leaving the country soon to hike through a jungle.

"Right, did you have any time you wanted to do that?"

"I thought we could be ready by Monday evening at the earliest, if that works for you?"

Two days, Makoto thought, "Uh, sure, nothing wrong with that. I think I kinda rushed into this pretty quickly, and you got dragged along. I'm sure if we talked to Usagi, we wouldn't have to go do this. It's kind of silly, anyway--"

"It's okay, Mako-chan. I wasn't joking when I said this was more important to me. I don't just mean that as an obligation, either. I can become a doctor in every medical field there is, but I would still be a Sailor Senshi first. We might not have any success, but this is definitely worth doing on the chance that we might stop it from happening again."

"Anything I should do to prepare?"

"Make trail mix."

Makoto paused, "What?"

"Or whatever you like. Compact and nutritious. Military rations don't sit well on my stomach."

Makoto laughed, "Fine, find. Anything else, though?"

"Not that I can think of. I'm going to go do that interview and organize my notes, then I'll probably compile a list of other supplies and plan a route for us. You can help if you like..."

"But I'd probably just get in the way. I'll make supplies."

"Mako-chan's travel rations will probably be a good enough reason to hike anyway."

Makoto blushed lightly.


	4. Chapter 4

"Sailor Teleport?" Makoto repeated skeptically. She and the others stood in the lush decor of the palace palace throne room. Usagi, as was her wont, had taken the room's only available seat. She lay draped ungainly across the throne while in the corner of the room Ami rummaged through a pair of supply packs.

"Yep. That would be the quickest way to get you there, wouldn't it?"

"Well, of course it would, Usagi-chan, but how will the rest of you get back if Mako-chan and I are supposed to stay there?" Ami questioned, approaching everybody with what looked like a transparent toothpaste tube filled with chocolate pudding.

"Oh, I think I'll figure something out," Usagi replied, raising her hand with a flourish and revealing the glittering presence of the Silver Crystal held loosely within it. Makoto exchanged a look with Ami, and shrugged.

"It saves us some time, and I hate planes anyway."

Ami smiled understandingly, "Mako-chan, hold out your hands."

Makoto did so without hesitation, holding little concern over something Ami would do. The latter squeezed out a measure of what turned out to both look and _feel_ like chocolate pudding into her cupped hands, before putting a similar measure on her own open palm. Makoto looked on quizzically. Ami rubbed her hands together and started spreading the substance up and down her arms, taking the excess and slathering it onto her lower legs, face, and neck. In front of everybody, the fair-skinned Ami was turning a deep, tanned brown. Makoto shook her head, realizing she was staring, and started to do the same to herself.

"From a distance, we may even pass as native. Closer, our facial features and speech will give us away as foreigners, but hopefully people will assume we've been there a while. It's supposed to last until we apply a counter-agent on our return."

"Good thinking," Minako nodded approvingly, and gave the spent tube a speculative look, "Say, where did you get that, anyway? That sure would be an easy way to get a tan."

"Talk with the Millennium Kingdom military, Minako-chan. they're the only ones producing it right now."

"Ah... it's expensive, then?"

"Quite."

"I see..."

Makoto chuckled at Minako's crestfallen expression, then looked over her arms and legs for any spots she might have missed. She felt somebody come close to her front as she craned her neck around to see the back of her legs, and snapped back forward to find Ami bare inches away, standing up on tiptoes. Ami's face rose, coming up to her neck,

"Everything looks fine up here, Mako-chan," she said satisfactorily, peering around at Makoto's neck and face, "How did I do?"

Ami twisted her head up and around so Makoto could inspect her similarly.

"L-looks great," Makoto stammered. Ami smiled happily. Covering the nervous effect Ami's unexpected approach had on her, Makoto picked up their packs and put them near the center of their group to be taken with them. While doing so, she glanced at Sailor Mars resting against the back of the throne, arms crossed. The Sailor Teleport plan explained why she'd shown up transformed, and the others followed suit. Taking a steadying breath when she was done, Sailor Jupiter almost wished she hadn't had to transform. The feeling that accompanied it was rather welcome, and she wouldn't relish having to give it up the moment she first stepped onto foreign--and potentially hostile--soil. A nudge on her arm shook her from her momentary reverie, and her eyes found Sailor Mercury stepping up beside her and taking her hand. Jupiter smiled, and looked to the other side to take the hand of Venus and form the circle. Jupiter almost immediately felt Sailor Moon open the channel between them, allowing their power to mingle and spread out into the air around them. The sensation of insubstantiality came swiftly after; first the lesser stuff of her hair and clothing thinned from reality until they were floating around her, lighter than air. The rest of her body followed more and more rapidly; her feet left the ground. In a rush, she felt a momentary shock of nonexistence, and then was back and solid with startling suddenness. Under her boots the ground shifted treacherously and a bright light assaulted her vision. Blinking, her eyes adjusted and she saw the other senshi around her, squinting and looking around in similar states. Sailor Venus had fallen to the ground. Jupiter extended a hand and helped her back to her feet.

They were on a beach. It was a short beach, perhaps only a hundred paces wide at most, and thinning off to a mere twenty meters at many spots. After that it looked hilly, and coated in vibrant green plant life. The air was oppressively still and silent but for the slow, rhythmic murmur of the waves over the sand. It was difficult to believe there were any living creatures but the plants for miles around, but Sailor Jupiter knew well enough not to put any faith in that misleading impression. It was far too easy to become relaxed in these sorts of peaceful surroundings. A quiet, not entirely happy laugh gently broke through that peace to her left.

"Sailor Mercury?" Jupiter asked, concerned.

"I was just thinking, when is the last time we came to the beach together?"

"It's been a while," Sailor Mars answered softly, nodding.

"Hey, stop it right now!" Sailor Moon yelled, glowering at the lot of them. They looked back at her, surprised at the outburst. "Quit telling me not to worry and then behaving like this! At least say something like, 'we'll have to do this for real when we're done' or something!"

"Now, now, Sailor Moon," Venus said placatingly, "You can't blame everybody for being a little worried. You are right, though. Can we be a little more cheerful, guys?"

Sailor Mercury nodded, but distractedly. Her hand rose and activated her visor. For a moment her eyes were distant, focusing on information only she could see. She drew a map and marker out of her pack, and made a hasty mark. Then she met Jupiter's gaze, and the two nodded. In a moment, Ami and Makoto stood in the sand with loose, practical, comfortable khaki's in place of the fuku they had worn a moment ago. Oddly enough, with all her friends by her side, Makoto didn't feel worried in the slightest, as she thought she might after leaving the stolid identity of Sailor Jupiter behind. To make herself useful and take her mind off of what was coming next, she picked her pack up off of the sand and slung it over her back, arranging the weight comfortably across both shoulders, and retrieved Ami's pack for her.

"So, Sailor Venus, you were absolutely positive when you told me that these two were playing nice now?" she heard Mars asking airily when she was walking back.

"Hey, don't talk about us like we're not even here," Makoto objected.

"Last I checked, Sailor Mars," Minako nodded, ignoring Makoto's protest.

"I'm glad," Sailor Moon said, thankfully looking at the pair being discussed as she said so. The serenity in her voice as she spoke while laying her hand over her heart told Makoto just how relieved their leader was to hear that. Following that exchange, though, the senshi only stood around awkwardly with their heels sinking into the sand. Sailor Mars coughed meaningfully, and Makoto took the initiative.

"ER, well, I guess we'll be seeing you later," Makoto said, trying to be cheerful about it. It was easy to talk about this being a necessary, even simple, excursion. But standing together on this deserted shore far from home brought the situation to a hard reality. The jungle loomed behind them, feeling more ominous than it had any reason to. Makoto and Ami drew closer together and linked hands without sharing so much as a glance.

"Right, I suppose so. Er, why _don't_we all go to the beach back home sometime, when this is all done?" Sailor Mars suggested, also trying to make her voice sound light.

"That sounds nice," Ami agreed, but the atmosphere between them all remained noticeably strained.

"But right now we all have places to go and people to see, eh?" Sailor Venus chimed in, as though they were leaving to go shopping and run errands.

"Sure do. Thanks for the lift, Usagi-chan," Makoto said, warming to her customary bravado. She felt Ami give her hand a squeeze and knew that one person here, at least, could see through her like still water. Sailor Moon held up her Silver Crystal with a reluctant expression on her face. Makoto smiled slowly, and gently broke contact with Ami to move beside their leader and give her a hearty clap on the shoulder.

"Now you should probably be getting back to the palace. The Queen can't just randomly disappear halfway across the world for too long. Eh, Sailor Mars?"

Mars flashed her an expression of gratitude, and nodded, "That's right. She needs to be getting back, and you two need to be getting on your way. The sooner you start out, the sooner you can be back."

Makoto pulled back, then coughed slightly as Sailor Moon stopped her with an arm-pinning embrace. Makoto rolled her eyes and gestured Ami over with a jerk of her head, so that when Sailor Moon was finished with her, their leader could give Ami the same treatment. While they finished up, Makoto warmly clasped hands with Mars and Venus, as did Ami after. Then the two who would remain stood off while the three senshi made a smaller circle. Sailor Moon held the Silver Crystal out in front of her with a serious expression on her face, and when she let go it remained floating in the air between them. Makoto watched as they joined hands and started to teleport again, a few signs of strain evident in Sailor Moon's features this time as she tapped a little deeper into herself and the others, and made up for the rest with the Crystal. There was a light, they rose into the air, and there was a flash with a kick-up of sand that made Ami and Makoto shield their eyes. When they looked again, their friends were gone.

Ami and Makoto stood there for a long moment, staring out at a vast ocean that now seemed far emptier than it had before. They started off across the sand, and it didn't take long for them to fully appreciate the change in climate. Even the short trip to the shade of the jungle canopy had the sun beating down on them like a hammer, and then even the shade provided no protection from air thick with sticky, humid warmth. As Makoto cycled air that felt almost viscous in and out of her lungs, she breathed a quiet word of thanks for the handy resistance to natural elements that the senshi enjoyed; this would not be a very fun trip without that.

They traveled abreast of one another, though Ami led the way. Their position and direction had been marked while she had access to satellite information from her visor, and now they only had to head in the right direction with the sun as an infallible compass.

"So what _is_our plan, anyway?" Makoto asked eventually, after they had been walking for some time.

"We're going to walk to one of the cities and see about renting a vehicle, then drive inland by the main roads. We came in here," she held up the map for Makoto to see, "So I'm taking us to Rio De Janeiro," the point Ami referred to was a short distance to the west. It would probably take them the rest of the day to get there, by Makoto's reckoning—she did know _something _about reading a map.

"We'll take the main roads to Cuiabá, and see what we can dig up there, then we'll make our way north to Manaus and see what we hear there. It's not much of a plan, and we'll have to keep an ear to the ground wherever we are, but that's really the best we can do."

"Sounds good enough to me," Makoto said, adjusting her shoulder-strap restlessly as she walked, "I especially like the idea of getting a vehicle."

"What did you think we were going to do, hike a few hundred miles inland?" Ami chided gently.

"I hadn't really thought about it," Makoto admitted.

They reserved more of their breath for hiking for the next few hours. The area just around the coast was hilly, and made for rough going. Though Makoto was in excellent shape, it was still enough to have her huffing and sweating, and the occasional concerned glance to Ami found her in no better condition, but no worse as well. She must have kept up swimming along with her studies.

Finally they came to a main road, a blessed break in the anxiety-inducing uniformity of the environment. After brief consideration, they decided it would be better to travel on the side of the road, remaining hidden under the foliage. That was better than traveling on a blacktop in this weather in any case, and helped to prevent potentially unfriendly eyes from spying them. Better safe than sorry in assuming how wide the enemy's eyes and ears might be spread.

It turned out that there wasn't much cause to be concerned in this instance, as they didn't see signs of any other person on the road all the way to their destination. Even having grown up in one of the larger, busier cities in the world—-and having lived in the largest, busiest for the past few years--Makoto still found Rio De Janeiro to be a fantastic sight as they neared and finally entered it. The rolling, lively hills that shaped and surrounded the city and the crisp scent of the sea detectable even underneath the other smells of a large city gave it a distinct identity apart from the "big city" atmosphere she had come to expect. They weren't there on vacation, however, thought Makoto with a slight pang of regret, and the greater part of the city seemed nothing more than a blur as Ami talked her way to finding a vehicle rental agency. Makoto felt distinctly out of place as she just stood to the rear and wished that she knew what was being said. After some of what looked to be fairly intense discussion, they left with a decidedly appropriate-feeling Jeep. It looked worn, but Ami assured her it would go where they wanted it too. Makoto felt another twinge of inadequacy as she was faced with the fact that she had never learned to drive, but Ami was quite capable in this regard. When Makoto expressed some surprise at this, the other would only modestly comment that it had seemed like a good idea to learn while she'd been studying abroad.

This provided a diversion for the pair as they used the last few hours of the day to get started driving to Cuiabá, in that Makoto decided to learn how to drive. This made it so that they covered a tad less ground than they might have otherwise.

_Clunk!_

"A little easier, Mako-chan, don't be so nervous. I'm not grading you," Ami said kindly. Makoto's cheeks colored. The vehicle was standard shift, so this was necessitating a great deal of such clunking at the inevitable amount of stalling out that Makoto induced.

Makoto tried again, easing off the clutch and trying to feel it "bite" as Ami told her it would. The problem was, this wasn't the newest vehicle, and she was sure it quivered and jumped about more than most modern vehicles. It was hard to differentiate any of these particular feelings.

_Clunk!_

Makoto clenched her teeth as the jeep lurched yet again, shaking them both.

"It's fine, Mako-chan. Here, back into neutral, try again."

She sighed, pushing in the clutch and resetting the stick--she was getting good at this part, anyway. Taking a deep breath, she turned on the engine and started letting off of the clutch with painstaking care.

"Hold on, Mako-chan," Ami interrupted her. Makoto froze, and Ami leaned over, putting a hand on each of her knees. This, Makoto couldn't help but think, was highly unfair. She tried to pay attention to what Ami was trying to tell her.

"Okay, now just do what you're doing. I'll try to help you tell when everything is happening."

Makoto nodded shortly, and continued where she'd left off.

"My, you're a little shaky," Ami noted, not unkindly. Makoto rolled her eyes to the expansive blue sky overhead. She set her shoulders, though, and steeled her muscles to the sort of fine control she was _supposed_to have been honing for years. She raised her foot slowly, and when it was near halfway up Ami gripped her clutch knee without warning, holding it in place. In the same moment, she pushed her other knee down, signaling her to give the engine gas. Thanks to those signals, she thought she could even feel that "bite". To her pleased surprise, Makoto felt the car roll forward.

_Clu-cu-cu-clok!_

Then it lurched and shuddered and stalled.

"Almost there. Try again?"

"Do we really have time for this?" Makoto pointed out, flushed with both embarrassment and frustration with herself.

"I don't think time really matters in this, Mako-chan. If you want to think about the mission, it might be necessary for you to be able to drive at some point."

Makoto shrugged as though she didn't care any which way, but felt pleased. She wasn't quite ready to give up yet. Or ever, to think of it.

After that, she really did get the hang of the transmission quickly, knowing better what feeling to watch out for. Ami made sure it was second-nature to her before they stopped, though, taking her through upshifting and downshifting and stopping and reversing and so many stalls that Makoto thought she was going to be motion sick. As orange started to bleed into the sky and the bright disk of the sun was enveloped by the horizon, Makoto found herself confidently cruising down the road as though she'd been behind the wheel for years. It probably helped that there wasn't much in the way of traffic on the road or obstacles to maneuver around, but she thought that Ami was a damn good teacher. There was the slim probability that she herself was a decent student, but Makoto—usually among the most confident and self-assured of them--doubted this somehow.

She aimed a smile at the girl she was thinking so well of, and noted a sleepily content expression on the other's face.

"Hey, Ami-chan. As long as I can move this thing around now, you think we can save some time by driving in shifts?"

"Hmm? Oh, yes, that would be nice. I didn't think I would be this tired already."

"Go ahead and catch a few winks. We just need to stay on this road for a while, right? I think I can handle that."

"Probably so. Wake me in a few hours so I can check our position, though, just to be safe."

"You got it."

Ami nodded off easily, lulled by the background noise and motion of the engine. Makoto was still fresh enough to the road that she gave it much of her attention, so it came as a surprise when she felt a thump on her shoulder. Ami had slipped over without any other support and lay on a shoulder that shifted with every move of the steering wheel . Smiling warmly, Makoto got used to using her left hand to steer, thinking that this frustrating lesson had been good for more than learning how to drive.


	5. Chapter 5

Makoto softly pumped the brakes until the vehicle had come to a stop, trying to see how gently she could accomplish it. Ami still rested against her shoulder, breathing evenly. The headlights winked off. The moon was no more than a sliver in the sky, but the stars seemed preternaturally bright; even the night sky in the countryside of Japan had never seemed quite this alive with winking lights. Makoto looked fondly down at Ami. There wasn't much to see, Ami's new chocolate complexion not quite the "ivory moonlit" skin of prose. But leaning over she smelled the sweetness of Ami's hair and felt soft strands brush her lips and felt the warmth of Ami's cheek against her skin.

"Hey, Ami-chan, wake up," Makoto cooed, and blushed in the darkness at her own voice. _That_ wasn't going to wake anybody up. She ruffled Ami's hair once more then reached her hand over, trailing fingers over Ami's neck and telling herself she was just feeling her way to the shoulder. Makoto gave her a gentle nudge, to which Ami stirred, and fell promptly back to sleep. She nudged more firmly, and the pressure on her shoulder lessened as Ami sleepily raised her head. Makoto could imagine her casting about aimlessly as her eyes adjusted.

"Mako-chan?"

"Yeah, it's been a while. You wanted to wake up?"

"Yes, yes I did," Ami yawned, stretching a neck sore from laying bent too long, "All the lights are off," she said in that questioningly matter-of-fact tone of one not quite awake.

"Er, I'm supposed to turn them off so I don't drain the battery, right?"

"They're usually okay for a couple of hours," Ami explained, and reached a hand into the backseat. She heaved her pack into her lap and pulled out the map and a flashlight. Makoto watched her open the booklet and aim the flashlight at it, flipping through a number of pages before she craned her neck back to look at the sky, "It's a lovely, clear night way out here."

Makoto smiled, "It is."

"What a perfect view of the stars."

"Are you going to tell us where we are with them, then?"

"I could," Ami nodded, "Or...," she rummaged in her pack for a few moments and came out with what looked like a little box with a screen. Makoto couldn't quite see what she was doing, but Ami leaned forward to the dashboard, and when she came away the device was attached, and the screen was coming to life. Soon, there was a little map there, with there position marked onto it, "Or I could use a GPS. Thats much easier."

Makoto blinked, "A... GPS?"

"Global positioning--"

"I know what it is," Makoto interrupted, not sure whether to laugh or thump herself on the head, "I just can't believe I let you convince me about all that navigation stuff when I should have known..."

"You were too busy thinking about roughing it in a forest, weren't you?" Ami said shrewdly, and Makoto winced.

"Maybe."

"Which may still happen, Mako-chan. I wasn't trying to pull one over on you. We don't know what might happen out here, and it wouldn't be a good idea to rely that much on electronics."

"Really?"

"Of course. These satellite signals can be detected by certain equipment, and also jammed."

"Wait, detected? Then were lit up like a flare out here? This, ah, doesn't seem like a good idea, Ami-chan."

"There are enough people with GPS that nobody is going to be looking for them. However, if the enemy were to find out that we were close by, and were using one..."

"Ah, I get it. So if that happens, you..."

"Go with celestial navigation. It takes longer, and forces me to bring along a bit of extra equipment, but it could be necessary."

"Gotcha."

"So for now, how about we trade places and you catch a little rest while I drive. I guess nothing interesting happened while I was asleep?"

"Not mu--"

A blood-chilling, screeching roar broke through the other ambient sounds of the rainforest—various insects and bird calls that Makoto had long ago tuned out with the aid of the motor.

"Oh my," Ami commented, her mouth dry.

"Hooray, jungle cats," Makoto tried to sound nonchalant, and didn't like how tight her voice sounded in her own ears, squeezed by a stomach clenched with sudden adrenaline release.

"Rainforest, actually, Mako-chan."

"Rainforest—jungle, whats the difference?"

"Trees. Jungles are mostly vines and low-growing plants."

Makoto rolled her eyes, though she felt herself calming down.

"Rainforest cats then. What lives here again, jaguars?"

"Jaguars are native to Brazil. They aren't known for molesting people, though. It should avoid the road."

"_Should_?" Makoto said before she could stop herself.

"Yes, should. Dot worry about it, Mako-chan. We'll be traveling to fast to worry about this for now."

"I'm not really worried about it _now_, but we're not going to be driving a jeep into enemy headquarters," Makoto mumbled. Ami wasn't sure what to say to that. They quickly switched seats, "I'm not sure if I'll be able to get any rest now, either. That woke me up just a hair bit," Makoto noted, feeling fidgety and restless now. Ami keyed the ignition and flipped the lights back on.

"You'll be out like a light after you calm back down. Whatever you do now, though, it's still going to take us the better part of a day, perhaps two, to reach Cuiaba; you'll fall asleep sometime."

Makoto at first doubted that she'd ever be able to relax--it was quite necessarily a human's first, instinctual reaction _not_ to fall asleep after hearing the territorial roar of a lethal predator and all--but Ami proved right once again. As her body stopped screaming "Fight, run, fight, run!" at her, she found it hard to keep her eyelids up in the quiet that was left behind. She folded her hands in her lap and reclined her head against the seat and fell into a fitful doze, constantly starting awake every time the motion of the vehicle tipped her over to the side. She didn't think it was all that noticeable, until she felt Ami grab her sleeve and tip her over.

"A friendly shoulder makes for better rest, I found," Ami said kindly. Makoto sleepily smiled her gratitude, and fell into a much better slumber.

Makoto vaguely recalled awakening briefly when Ami stopped to fuel up in a small town, but it was like the skip of a stone on the surface of her memory. When she cracked her eyes open next, then, it was because of the first peeking of a warm sunrise over the horizon. It subdued the surrounding forest in darks of brown and green under the fiery majesty of the summer sun. The sounds drifting around her subtly changed as the calls of nocturnal life giving way to the daytime creatures. She shifted slightly, and saw the golden-orange light playing over Ami's face and making it the color of aged bronze. These little things were still a little shock when Makoto first saw them, in that period of sleep before she remembered where they were and what they were doing. This scene in itself, driving through a foreign country with a blazing new sun painting the world with Ami beside her looking so unlike Ami ever had, was almost enough to convince her that she had not in fact awoken, and still lay in the clutches of a most unusual dream.

"Good morning, Mako-chan," Ami spoke quietly, breaking the spell of Makoto's sedate mind. She squeezed her eyes shut tightly and opened them again; though everything looked the same in that second that passed, it felt once again like a normal world. Makoto sat up and winced as she tried to stretch up straight, a pain in the side of her neck yelling at her to take it easy for the moment. Ami saw the face she made from the corner of her eye and giggled, "You probably have it worse than I did, what with our height difference."

"God, I sure hope you_ didn't_ feel like this. I'd have to pop you for telling me to use your shoulder, if so," Makoto smiled to confirm the levity of her statement, but her lips drew back slightly and she rubbed the side of her neck before trying to stretch it again. Ami reached a hand over to try and work at the muscles there, but Makoto shrugged her away,

"Uh-uh, no trying to drive and give massages at the same time. That's just asking for trouble."

Ami put her hand back to the steering wheel, while Makoto put her hand to her stomach.

"All that, and I'm starving too. I can't believe I forgot about food yesterday."

"I had some of those cereal and dried fruit bars you made earlier, so I'm fine. Go ahead and grab some rations."

"Way ahead of you, Ami-chan," Makoto said around a mouthful, she'd started searching through the appropriate supply pack right after she first spoke. She was happy with how her traveling items had come out, and was also glad that Ami approved; no bland, terrible rations for this trip. Makoto looked at the deep brown fingers of her hand as she ate. It was rather amusing, she thought, that even with all the things that the military had put its time and effort into, and all the useful discoveries they made, military supply foodstuffs continued to be as unpleasant as they were. Perhaps it had something to do with the soldiering personality, she mused, finding a sort of camaraderie and boldness in various minor hardships. Certainly didn't seem to apply to her little band of "soldiers", but that wasn't quite the same thing. That thought struck a question as it formed. It really _wasn't_quite the same. Ami was no soldier, and Makoto suddenly found herself curious on one account.

"Hold on a moment, you told me that military rations didn't sit well on your stomach, but when did you ever have to live on army food?"

"I never had to _live _off of them, but my roommate back at school had a sibling in the Army. I'm not sure why, but he sent her some. Neither of us felt very well that night, as I recall."

"That explains that," Makoto nodded; "One mystery down."

"A mystery, Mako-chan?"

"Anything you don't know is a mystery, isn't it?"

"I suppose. If that's the case, however, we're both harboring a fair number of mysteries right now. Would it be alright we played a little detective to pass the time?"

"I... guess," Makoto answered hesitantly. Was this the same as "catching up," she wondered? "Ah, but first, could you stop for a sec, I have to use the, um, nearest bush."

Ami's eyelids fluttered in surprise, then she nodded and pulled over to the side of the road.

"Paper is in that side pack," she pointed, and Makoto nodded thankfully. She walked into the cover of a nearby cluster of brush and went about her business, the whole mess feeling slightly inappropriate to her urban sensibilities. She stepped back into the jeep and strapped her seat belt on.

"I think I'd prefer to remember to get this done when we're getting gas or something," she grumbled.

"May as well take the opportunity to get used to it, you never--"

"Know whats going to happen," Makoto finished for her, sighing, "I won't forget, Ami-chan, but I will complain now and again. So then, what was that you said about playing detective?"

"I'm just wondering what you've been up to the past few years, since, well... you know..."

"Right, right, I know."

"That's a bit of a mystery in itself, isn't it?" Ami started for a moment, having been so focused on talking that they'd been sitting on the shoulder for a few minutes. She started the jeep.

"What's is?" Makoto asked.

"That we grew apart at all, Mako-chan. What happened?" Makoto couldn't see the full extent of Ami's expression as her friend maneuvered back onto the road.

"You had to follow your dream, and I had to, er, not follow your dream," Makoto said stiffly. This was among the last things she wanted to think about, much less talk about, right now.

"Hold on, whats that supposed to mean? Mako-chan, I know you had your dreams too. What about the cake shop. Or the flower shop, surely you were able to make those happen?"

Makoto blinked. Those certainly had been her dreams; they still were at some level. She hadn't really thought about them in a while. "Sure, I guess I could have. I didn't, though; I decided that Usagi-chan needed my help more," Makoto explained. This wasn't entirely untrue. She had devoted her spare time after that to helping their Queen out. There was plenty for a bored senshi to do in Tokyo. Makoto had gone about making appearances at schools and public events, training palace guards--she'd gotten a lot of her teaching skills from there, just in time to unlearn them all when she decided that she wanted to teach children instead--and other such busy work.

"Really?" Ami didn't sound terribly convinced, and Makoto couldn't blame her. What was she supposed to say, though? At some point down the line, her dreams had become much more than what they'd started as. Suddenly her cake shop had a certain girl sitting at a table with a book and a piece of cake in the middle of the day, reading and talking and laughing while Makoto took care of orders and experimented with fun baking ideas. Or the florist shop, where through the front doors had walked her pretty friend to come smell the roses and Makoto had plucked out the prettiest one and given it specially to her, just to see her blush and smile. Makoto knew that at some point in her life, Ami hadn't been in those scenes at all, and they'd still been happy dreams. That wasn't the case now, though, and hadn't been for some time. Love-sickness shouldn'tbe any reason to have changed her life so much, but without even a friendly voice to say, "ah, theres always other fish in the sea," she'd never really gotten over it, and a broken heart was difficult to hold dreams in.

"Really," Makoto said finally, in a quiet tone that begged for an end to questions on the subject.

"Were you maybe trying to free up more of your time for, erm, somebody who reminded you of your long-lost senior?" Ami ventured cautiously, and a little wordily, as though she didn't want to go right out and ask the question directly.

"Huh?" Makoto looked at her blankly.

"You were so often falling in and out of love that I though, surely by now one of them must have been the right guy for you. Especially since they weren't all turning out to be alien nemesis and such."

"Oh, ha. I was a little flighty, wasn't I?"

"Mako-chan, Minako-chan is flighty. You, on the other hand, were a yo-yo."

"Oh come on, do you have to say it like that? So I had a few crushes, thats what young girls do." Especially when they're desperately wanting that normal fairytale romance, she thought. First there had been the puppy loves of a fair young maiden bursting with lively energy. It had been fun, then, to moon and swoon and giggle and gossip with Rei and Minako. Somewhere along the line, though--and it was strange to think about it all in retrospect now--it had stopped being so fun. It had started being... a necessity. She _was _a sweet young lady, and she _should _end up with the man of her dreams. At some point she'd even stopped trying to get to know the guys, and just fallen in "love" with the first charming fellow to express the slightest interest in her. Then the relationship would sour for some reason or another. All of them kind of blurred together for her now, all the single dates and two-week romances. No wonder they hadn't lasted long if they hadn't even been important enough to her to create even a single distinct memory. So she would end up single and despondent and seek Ami's company and feel better. Then go and repeat the mess again. A cycle of running to Ami and feeling better and more comfortable until she felt _too _better and _too _comfortable, then she had to run away again. It had been a terrible, wonderful day when she had finally realized that she was running away, and why.

"So what do slightly older girls do?"

"Tut-tut, I think its my turn to ask a question now," Makoto deflected smoothly, "Why don't you tell me, what _do_ slightly older girls do? Did Ami-chan meet any nice gentlemen out in the world?" It was quite easy to fall into old habits, Makoto found. Talk about boys, be normal, she's your friend, and so on.

"I never was quite like you and Rei-chan and Minako-chan. Nobody caught my eye, and I guess I didn't catch anybody else's either."

"I find that hard to believe. You told me everybody else at the university was smart, too, so nobody could be intimidated by that any more. What's to stop them from asking you out?"

"I'm not sure," Ami said, keeping her eyes steadily ahead of her, on the road.

"You must have had the bad fortune to get there when everybody had lost their glasses, I can only assume," Makoto suggested, laughing.

"So you really never got another boyfriend this whole time, Mako-chan?" Ami asked, Makoto's joking mostly ineffectual.

"No, I really really didn't"

Inexplicably, Ami seemed to relax, and Makoto hadn't even noticed that she was tense. Azure eyes sparkled and lips formed a mysterious little smile, at least "mysterious" in that Makoto couldn't figure out what was so amusing about her not getting a boyfriend. She shrugged it off, not caring too terribly much. Ami hadn't gotten herself a boyfriend either, and that was the more important bit of news here. She'd stopped running away from feelings towards Ami, she accepted those, and now she had to stop running away from Ami's feelings as well. OF course, they were in the middle of a mission in a foreign nation, so perhaps this was a bad time to find out what Ami's feelings were. Instead Makoto moved the conversation to less personal things, talking with Ami about school and what it was like to live so far from home, while in turn Ami asked her about what it was like to keep living in Tokyo as it evolved right before her eyes into the seat of power for the entire world. When Ami put it like that, Makoto figured that it was probably a very interesting story, but since she actually _had _lived in Tokyo during this time, it seemed as mundane to her as any other long-term street construction project. It wasn't long before Ami's eyelids began to droop slightly, and Makoto suggested that they trade positions, and they once again switched off. Ami stayed awake long enough to guide them to a nearby small town, though, and visit a gas station. Makoto observed somewhat wondrously that they didn't seem to have to stop very often, and that she thought gasoline would have been more of an issue.

"Mako-chan, they don't call this a golden age of science and medicine for nothing, you know," Ami smiled, and showed her a small vial of additive that she'd been adding to their fuel purchases, "This gives us a significant boost in fuel efficiency, and reduces emissions by a few factors. Most fueling stations in the modern world have this already in their supply, but it hasn't gotten to everywhere yet." Ami's expression turned somber for a moment, "In fact, that's probably the sort of reason that this terror group has sprung up. That's only speculation, though."

Makoto didn't like Ami looking quite so bleak. "A truly wondrous age, and things are getting better all the time. Nobody's worse off than when Usagi-chan started. A little patience is in order; there's a difference between working miracles and doing the impossible. But a golden age of medicine, eh? Whats that do for your studies?" To her surprise, Ami actually cringed at the mention.

"Awful, terrible things. Pre-med is stressful enough without half of what you learn becoming obsolete on a regular basis."

"Such a wonderful era we live in," Makoto said magnanimously once more, and stuck her tongue out at Ami. It had the desired effect: Ami laughed at the absurd expression on her face. After that, Makoto drove while Ami slept again. They finally decided that the backseat would make a great place to sleep in, though, so there was no more Ami on her shoulder to enjoy, but she consoled herself with the thought of being able to sleep without worry of terrible neck pains next time around. Ami gave her a brief description of how the GPS worked as well, so she was able to use it at least well enough to locate Cuiaba, which it appeared they would arrive at before Ami awoke again.

Cuiaba was another interesting sight for Makoto as she approached. It must have been one of the flattest cities she'd ever seen, and one of the more oddly colorful. There were skyscrapers and towers, for sure, but nothing like the endless bristles of those glass and concrete edifices as existed in other big cities. In this case, those buildings just gave it a feeling of being busier than a town, just enough so that it might be called a city. It took her a while to determine what seemed odd about the coloration as well. She was used to all sorts of things, like old Tokyo and its brilliant signage overtaking the same shiny metallic silvers and dull brick brown and red as most other places of its type, or the new Crystal Tokyo with its light-breaking faceted appearance and beautifully colored mineral spirals, or even depictions of the famously large cities of the west, like New York and Mexico City, which were still in that same definite color scheme. This, however, incorporated creamy-hued walls and red-tiled roofs scattered among these usual constructions, all of which was coated liberally with a fantastical amount of sunlight and a capped with a cloudless blue sky. On the whole, it came across as feeling a terribly _clean _place, everything solid colors or pearly whites in the sun. It reminded her of the calmer areas of home; the little neighborhoods with traditional homes and streets where kids felt safe to play. The street would have a sidewalk that went by the apartment she used to keep, and she used to follow that sidewalk down towards Usagi's house where she could often encounter Usagi and Ami walking to school and accompany them.

That was quite some time ago. She shook her head from that reverie, and realized that she didn't know if she should enter the city or not, or where to go if she was supposed to head in. She pulled the jeep to the side of the road and reached behind her to shake Ami awake.

"Hey, we're here."

"Here?"

"Cuiaba."

Ami came more fully awake, then, sitting up and leaning over the passenger seat to get a better view of the city near in the distance.

"So what's the plan from here, Ami-chan?"

"We go into the city. Watch the locals, see how they react to strangers coming in. Not everybody will pay enough attention to realize that were not from around here, but pay attention to those that do. Of course, if they're any good at this, they'll know better than to show any reaction."

"Wait, who's 'they' in this case?" Makoto asked, wanting to be clear.

"The terror group, or anybody who supports them. If their headquarters is nearby, there's probably a reason for it, and the city might be involved. Getting supplies, or spreading propaganda. There could be enemy agents in the city, and they'd be naturally suspicious around now. Particularly of anybody Japanese, even Asian at all. I'm going to be doing my absolute best to disguise or at least obscure my accent, try not to give yourself away.

"You got it."

Makoto drove them into town, hands slick on the steering wheel for no good reason. What Ami had said had made her just a teeny bit nervous, and once again she found herself thinking almost fondly of the hideously lethal monsters they used to have as opponents. Ami asked around, and found them a cheap but nice hotel to stay at. This started the worst time for Makoto. Ami insisted that she needed to go out into the city to try and gather information, but refused to let Makoto accompany her, for fear of attracting suspicion.

"Look, either we admit you're a foreigner and they get curious as to where were from, or I say you're my mute bodyguard, and thats going to attract attention too. Mako-chan, trust me, if anything happens I'll contact you right away, but _nothing _is going to happen."

For once, this didn't prove to be a case of famous last words. For a week and a half, Ami went into the city and wandered around, stopping in at bars and cafes and stores and whatever other places she could think of to lurk for careless conversation. She talked about going to a mechanics shop on the pretense of inspecting the jeep and, besides the fact that the fellow tried to cheat her by telling her she had a problem that she didn't, he answered all her questions freely and without duplicity, saying that there hadn't been much traffic through here or strange looking people. The same went with librarians she spoke to, and the hotel staff, and storekeeps, and everybody else. There just wasn't any sign at all of unusual happenings going on around this place. At the end of that week and a half, Ami said that she was ready to give it up here. There might be something, but it was too big a maybe not to go and check out what the rest of this country, especially the other city the questioned gunman had told of, had to offer. They took a few days to stock up on supplies, feeling safe about buying a few more perishable foodstuffs so they could save the traveling rations for when they needed them. They also also purchased a couple of gas cans for emergency fuel.

Makoto couldn't have felt more grateful to leave that place behind, she'd been getting a little stir-crazy cooped up in a hotel for two weeks. Now, finally, she started on the twisting, circuitous path to Manaus.


	6. Chapter 6

The night sky pooled endlessly above a succulent, milky blueish-purple. Patchy, roiling clouds moved through like splashes of cream in a cup of dark blueberry tea. The stars may well not have existed, for all they could be seen, and if it weren't for the assurance of the GPS, Makoto would have sworn she was making her way around in circles, never leaving the city of Cuiabá; the suburban sprawl seemed to extend forever. Even when she finally made her way out of it, the only thing to really leave was the sight of the buildings themselves, the other signs of the city remained clearly with her. The land right outside the city she found to be highly cultivated, flat fields extending to the horizon in all directions. The noises of life were near nonexistent here. Makoto had not noticed how accustomed she'd become to those sounds until she came to where the encroaching presence of civilization hushed them. Strangely enough, with the suppression of jungle life and the masking of the stars, the drive felt lonelier than ever, and here she were closer to other people than she'd been before. There were even other people on the road, always coming clearly visible from miles away. Every time she saw one, she felt a tension that wouldn't abate until she saw twin red glows sinking away in her rear-view mirror. For one she was a new driver and still concerned that she might clip them as they moved by, no matter what past experience would suggest, and for another she suspected that the cloak-and-dagger nature of their activities were playing on her mind and making her somewhat more suspicious of anybody she met. Then she entered another section of urban development as she passed through a small city and passed through it into yet another featureless plain of plantations. It became darker out here again, though still quiet, and the highway led her to disconcertingly flat country. There was still domesticated land far to one side of the road, but around her was wild again. Not overgrown or forested, just quite flat with the occasional outcropping of trees. She shouldn't have been surprised that the entire country wasn't the same all the way around, but she was.

She started making her way north again, though, and things started to appear closer to what she had become used to. Once more it was forested on both sides, though there must have been yet more sprawl to the East, based on the glowing horizon. This was the most nerve-wracking portion of her driving shift; the light pollution played odd tricks on her. The fuzzy cone of the headlights was both a godsend and anxious frustration. On the one hand, they provided the only distinction between a road dyed midnight and the emerald shadow of the surrounding foliage, but they were also washed out enough by the permanent twilight that everything blurred together until uncomfortably close to her. Now and again another traveler would come around a bend obscured by darkness and appear to pop out from nowhere, always making her heart take a sudden leap to hold a nervous council with her tonsils.

If there was anything good to be said for all of this, she thought, it was that she was kept alert. The only problem with growing more comfortable behind the wheel had been growing _too _comfortable behind the wheel, which happened readily enough on long featureless highways. It approached morning as she approached the small city of Vilhena. As happens, it did indeed feel darker so near the dawn. Before she came into that next establishment of man, Makoto found herself oddly reassured by the sight of a storm rolling over the landscape to the west, the low cloud bank so far off that she could see it move quite swiftly. Occasional flashes forked to the ground, and if she listened carefully she thought she could even hear the growling of thunder rolling towards her. It was nice to see the Earth continuing its regularly scheduled activities, no matter how the artificial haze she crept through seemed to fight against it. She and Ami had agreed to change off after Makoto hit Vilhena, and she was starting to feel the strain of the drive once again. She wondered idly if it was easier driving during the day, but after that first night she'd taken they'd sort of fallen mostly upon her, and there were less people on the road, which was good for her. As tired as she was becoming, it took several seconds longer than it probably should have for her to process what happened next.

A sudden light assaulted her vision, making her blink and slow reflexively, though she kept going. She squinted in her mirror from whence the offending brightness originated, and uttered a startled oath as she came to recognize the unmistakably familiar red-and-blue pattern of flashing lights. Though she was certain she'd done nothing wrong, she felt a cold rush of adrenaline flow through her veins, and took a few calm breaths as she slowed.

"Ami-chan!" She said, loudly, turning to the sleeping girl in the back. The volume of her beckoning and what must have been significant alarm in her voice roused Ami quickly, and the pattern of lights further sped her awakening.

"Mako-chan? What did you do?"

"Nothing!" Makoto insisted, a defensive note in her voice, "I swear, you think I would chance speeding or something? Should we, uh, switch seats or something?" She asked helplessly. Ami considered, at last shaking her head.

"No, just sit tight, he can see us already and that would be like waving a guilty flag. I'll take care of this."

Makoto nodded mutely. The patrol car pulled up behind them and a figure stepped out and slowly sauntered towards them, obviously taking his time about it. He held up a flashlight and scanned it around the interior of the jeep. He fixed a stern look on Makoto, and started speaking rapidly. She looked back at him helplessly, unable to understand a single word he said, and from the looks of it he thought she was playing stupid, because his lips twisted into a frown. Thankfully, Ami spoke back at this point. Makoto wasn't sure what they exchanged, but Ami was suddenly translating for her that they were to step out of the jeep and put their hands on the hood. She gulped, wondering what was going on, but Ami looked deep in thought and Makoto didn't want to distract her from anything that could get them out of this mess. They stood with legs spread in front of the vehicle, and the officer moved to frisk them. Makoto had her gaze fixed on Ami's face, looking for any sign of reassurance, so she was in perfect position to see a sudden wide-eyed look of surprise in her eyes, and seeing the region the officer's hands were in when that happened, Makoto had a good idea why.

"Hey, watch it!" Makoto said warningly, before she remembered that he wouldn't understand her. He seemed to get the tone, however, and put a hand to the nightstick at high wast. She looked steadily in his eyes, though, and he gave her an appraisal, taking in her stature, as tall as he, as well as her breadth of shoulder and the dangerous menace in her eyes that belied any possible bluffing on her part. He frowned, and frisked her as well, though she noticed he did so swiftly and professionally. That didn't make up for anything, and she still had half a mind to teach him a lesson. She felt a brush on her fingers, and looked to see Ami's eyes entreating her for patience. He spoke again, and Ami turned about. Makoto took this as a sign that she could as well, and watched worrisomely as they exchanged. Ami looked the very definition of polite acquiescence, and after an apparent demand from the officer turned around to rummage in the glove compartment of the jeep. She returned with a few documents and a card, which Makoto assumed to be her driver's license. He looked through each in turn. Makoto saw his eyes light up and a grin form on his face as he did so, though she couldn't see what document it was that provided him such glee. He handed them back to her, suddenly quite amiable and polite. Makoto could not fathom his sudden reversal of behavior, but now he and Ami were carrying on like old friends. Ami offered him a polite bow, and he waved it away with good humour, walking back towards his patrol car and bidding them a cheerful farewell. Makoto raised an eyebrow.

"So..."

"I'll drive now, go ahead and get in the passenger side," Ami interrupted her. Makoto shrugged and walked around the jeep. Ami started the engine and they rumbled away, Makoto looking over her shoulder to see the officer drive in the other direction and turn down a side road she hadn't noticed, where he must have been lying in wait.

"What was that about?" Makoto demanded afterwards.

"He claimed you were speeding--"

"But I wasn't!"

"No, but he claimed you were, and was prepared to write a ticket all the same," Ami continued patiently, "It doesn't matter, though, as you're unlicensed and foreign. I, erm, politely convinced him that it was in his best interest not to."

"How did you manage that?"

"We're going to need to make a stop at a bank in Vilheno."

"Huh?" Makoto looked at her blankly, then recognition dawned on her, "Oh—ooooh. But, Ami-chan!" Makoto looked shocked.

"A little bribery is by far the lesser of the evils here, Mako-chan," Ami replied meaningfully.

"I don't know about that," Makoto frowned, "He stops us for no good reason, gropes you, and then walks away with ill-gotten money? I could have saved us the trouble--and would feel better besides--if I would have just given him a good bump on the head."

"And get a warrant out for the arrest of two foreign Asian women traveling on this highway, complete with license plate number and vehicle description?"

"Ah...," Makoto didn't have any good answer to that.

"A little bit of paper can make travel surprisingly easier in some parts of the world with some of the right people, Mako-chan. In this case, it might have been worse were we to have found one of the moral, upstanding members of the police force; you would have been enjoying a nice ride in the back of his car about now," Ami sighed, "I'm not very comfortable with it either, but we can hope that even a corrupt lecher like him has children to spend that money on."

"We can?"

"No, not really," Ami answered brightly, and Makoto couldn't help but smile.

"I'm going to bed," she laughed.

"I'll wake you when we reach the Madeiras."

"Madeiras?"

"The largest tributary river of the Amazon, we'll have to cross it at the city of Porto Velho."

"Gotcha."

"Okay, let me stop so you can--Mako-chan!" Makoto half-climbed, half-vaulted into the backseat of the moving vehicle, to Ami's alarm, "Don't do that!"

She chuckled and stretched out for sleep.

--

"Big."

"Very."

Makoto sat back against the side of the jeep. Other vehicles, for whom the drivers were used to this sort of thing, sped by on the road behind them, but Ami had pulled over to the side and awoken her friend. Makoto was glad she had, as they looked over the coursing expanse of water. Makoto had seen rivers before, Japan had them in good supply. She had seen pretty blue, sparkling rivers. This was not one of those. She had seen--had been on--impressively swift rivers, coursing over rocks and spraying up in frothy fountains, this was not one of those. What this deceptively calm-appearing, muddy brown river had, however, was immensity. Lakes were large, the sea seemed endless, but this amount of water, all seeming to move with singular, unstoppable purpose, was impressive it its own way. The air seemed even heavier here somehow, the bank mud smelled earthy and rich Makoto loosed a low whistle.

"And you said this was just a tributary?" she asked.

"Yes. The largest tributary, to be sure, but still a tributary."

"Right."

"We'll cross the Amazon itself right before Manaus."

"I'll look forward to it."

While they looked, Makoto had the nagging suspicion that something was missing.

"Ami-chan, there's no bridge."

"We're taking a ferry. Bridges over all the big rivers in the delta area would be rather expensive."

"Ah, right."

They moved out a few minutes after, making a short stop at a shop along the bank so Ami could ask the locals about who would be able to ferry a vehicle for them. Ami looked somewhat concerned when she saw the ferry, while Makoto knew exactly what to make of the "worthless rust bucket!" Ami said that it had been highly recommended, though, and that it had apparently had better fare and schedule than the other, more reputable-appearing ferry's in the area. They saw other passengers boarding without apparent worry as well, so they decided, with some harbored misgivings, to continue. It was a good enough sign to Makoto that the vessel still floated as the jeep slowly pulled onto it. However, while they stood at the edge during the twenty-or-so-minute trip, they both patently refused to lean on the guardrail and set their tires back onto solid ground with noticeable relief.

Makoto drove now, and settled in for the long haul. They were about ten hours away from Manaus now, and most of it on one long, straight highway that she drove down with a certain sense of unease. To be sure, there was plenty to be concerned about, especially with the brand-new concern of corrupt authorities lurking to detain her. What she thought most about was the upcoming stay in Manaus. Makoto didn't relish being confined once again to a hotel room while Ami went out and played the part of the infiltrator; it was maddening how restless she had felt the last time, or rather, how useless. And worried. For herself, of course--were something to happen to Ami, Makoto was fairly well defenseless out here, her only real recourse at that point to call the others on her communicator and wait for reinforcements. But more so for the event that would make that necessary, something happening to Ami. Makoto could think all she wanted to about how the both of them were unrecognizable and that nobody would see them as a threat, but when it came to her friend she suddenly lacked conviction in that reasoning; also, that reasoning didn't account for thieves, muggers, murderers, rapists, or any number of those other delightful aspects to mankind that were quite apart from political avengers.

Wind coursed over her frowning lips and she licked them as they dried. The chap stick was in the backseat, but Makoto wasn't overly concerned about her lips right now, though the object of her concern was in the backseat as well. She glanced over her shoulder at Ami's calmly sleeping face and felt so profound an ache as to be physically manifest, her hands tightening on the wheel and a grimace stretching her lips. She rolled her shoulders uncomfortably, and with frustration. Why in the world, she asked herself, did everything seem so simple when it was a handsome stranger who made her feel all funny inside, while everything became so complicated when it was her best friend? Or perhaps, she wryly observed, that had more to do with the latter making her feel far funnier than the former had.

Casting her eyes restlessly over the dashboard she lamented, not for the first time, that the vehicle they were using lacked a radio. The novelty of driving and the foreignness of the country had ceased being engaging quite a while ago. While she was worried about what would happen after they arrived, Makoto was simultaneously glad that they would finally be stopping somewhere for good, or at least they didn't have any plans right _now _for traveling afterwards, except to go back home.

--

Finally, the end was coming into sight. Or rather, as she determined a goodly time later, only the river was. The memory of the Madeira remained fresh in her mind, and she soon concluded that it also distorted her judgment. The term "tributary" came into full context as she approached, seeing the Madeira feed itself into this new behemoth. Untold other shining, serpentine bodies undulated from the jungle to join as well; creating some joyous gathering of life where the buzz and chirp and screech of insects and birds and animals rose into the air with renewed vigor from the thick, luscious growth of this vibrant place. There also, kin to the great river in sheer size, stretched the city of Manaus. Capital of the Brazilian state of Amazonas, so Makoto had been informed, it hugged the bank of the river like a crown atop its head, spires of glass and steel rising majestically and set with gems made of reflected sun. The sight enchanted Makoto and drew her eyes while she drove alone on the highway.

A flash of movement back to the front caught her eye, and she snapped her head forward to see some small, furry shape skitter onto the road and stop to stare at impending death zooming towards it. Panicking, Makoto did what many would do, and slammed her foot onto the brakes. The jeep had excellent traction, so did little more than skid partway to the side, but the sudden cut in motion threw Makoto forward and locked the seatbelt, which cut painfully into her shoulder and waist. She heard the tires squeal in protest and numerous thumps from the back, the seconds after seeming deathly quiet in contrast. Makoto hadn't even made out whatever it was that caused the whole mess, although there was a good chance she wouldn't have recognized it even if she had gotten a good look. Realizing belatedly that she was parked sideways across both lanes of traffic, she slowly limped her way to the shoulder. She heard shuffling from the backseat as she did, and looked back after she had parked. The backseat itself was bare, the floorboard covered with two heavy packs. One of which was moving as Ami struggled to emerge from underneath it. Makoto, chagrined, helped her heft it and set it on the seat. Ami sat up and shook her head and, upon seeing the other's embarrassed, apologetic face, fixed Makoto with a look that spoke volumes, most of them entitled things like "Peeved" and "Displeasure" in bold, bright golden embossed script on severe black leather covers.

Ami drove the rest of the way in, though she was mollified some amount after Makoto explained what had happened.

"It's pretty enough to have woken up for," Ami commented with a forgiving smile. Makoto, watching Ami watching the scenery, of course agreed.

They found a much better ferry service to take them over the Amazon, which was a significantly longer trip. Makoto shook her head in amazement as they passed a small island in the middle of the river that looked to be about as wide as the Madeira had been. They moored at the ferry dock and drove down the ramp, at which point Ami started looking for a good hotel, and Makoto started worrying again, though with Ami's apparent concentration on her task she didn't feel comfortable saying anything yet. She finally found a location to her liking. It included an attached parking garage which provided the only really feasible parking in the area. Makoto grabbed their bags and waited in the lobby to save them the trouble of lugging the things all the way from the garage, and Ami went to park. After they had gotten a room and walked into it, slinging their bags to the floor and both falling face-first on the bed, Makoto discovered in herself a far, far more pressing concern than what might come later.

"I'm taking a shower," she announced.

"Ah, no fair! I was just about to say that," Ami pouted. Makoto opened her mouth to voice a bright solution, liable to halve the time it would take them to shower separately, but thought better of it. Unfortunately, the "thinking _better _of it" bit of the matter was up for debate--heated debate--in her mind for quite some time after. Nevertheless, she took the first shower; she was not going to give that up.

"Oh my," Makoto breathed luxuriously later, a shiver running up her spine. An honest-to-goodness shiver, brought on by a room exquisitely chilled by a smoothly running air conditioner.

"'Oh my,' what? Oh, my frozen nose?" Ami laughed. Whatever she said, Ami also lay on the bed garbed only in her pajamas. Damp hair splayed out across her crossed arms. Makoto's own hair still hung in limp, frizzing curls down her back. Fatigue had gripped her with surprising suddenness, a hot shower and soft bed quickly draining the will to do anything. She did, however, know what that would mean tomorrow morning, and so had fished out a brush. Suppressing a yawn, she moved her arm back. Fingers enclosed her wrist; she glanced back.

"Would you mind?" Ami asked, moving as if to take the brush. Makoto nodded wordlessly, letting go. Ami started to gather the sodden mass and begin gently pulling out the tangles that had formed.

"You look tired, Mako-chan."

"Isn't that a shame?" Makoto replied, "You're the one who needs to be getting a good night's rest, but you just woke an hour ago."

"I need?" Ami slowed her brushing.

"You've got your work cut out for you here, Ami-chan. Did you see the size of this city on our way in? It's like somebody put a regular city on a rubber sheet and stretched it way out."

"True, we may have some trouble. At least there's no press for time."

"'We?'" Makoto echoed, "I don't see what trouble I'm going to have, besides trying not to go out of my mind from boredom and worry."

"Oh, worry?" Behind her, Makoto failed to see the smile playing over Ami's lips and dancing behind blue eyes.

"Of course I'll be worried!" Makoto said hotly, "Twiddling my thumbs safe and sound here while you're out there doing who knows what; no guarantee that you'll answer the phone when I call because you don't want to speak Japanese in public, waiting the rest of the time on pins and needles for you to call me. You know, just what am I supposed to do if something were to happen to you? I wouldn't even know about it! I don't know what I would do if something like that--" a catch in her throat broke her sentence, and she coughed to cover it up. In that brief amount of silence that she afforded herself, Makoto noticed a gentle bubble of amusement coming from behind her.

"What's so funny?" she demanded, twisting her neck back.

"I'm sorry that you had to worry about me so much," Ami smiled warmly, "but you'll be coming with me this time."

"You mean I'm _not_ going to be closed away in the room until we're done?" Makoto questioned, grateful but surprised, "What's changed?"

There was a tug on Makoto's scalp as Ami self-consciously twirled a dark lock of hair about her finger, "The city changed. Manaus is one of the main centers of tourism here. Two more foreigners aren't going to make any difference. Besides... you weren't the only one worried when I was out alone before, I'll feel better with you nearby." Abashed, Ami ducked her eyes. Makoto didn't reply. She watched the delightfully bashful expression on the other's features long enough to realize that she was staring, and turn back around.

"Ah, well, that's good," she said simply, feeling Ami work with her hair again. Her friend had eased out the tangles and now pulled the brush through in long, slow strokes. Much as Makoto enjoyed the attentions, her eyelids grew weighted and every blink became a chore to reverse, until between one closing and opening Ami's hands were linked around her stomach.

"Huh?"

"I'm sorry, you must be sleepy," Ami said apologetically.

"Oh, no, Ami-chan, I--" she cut herself off with an implacable yawn that pried her jaws and refused to be swallowed. She finished with a sheepish grin, "Maybe a little weary."

"I'll quit playing with your long, curly hair then," Ami said, spilling dried, silky strands through her fingers, "But I just may continue to be jealous of it."

Makoto widened her eyes. "Jealous, of this mess? I remember reading somewhere that only the very cutest girls can have short hair," Makoto raised her hand to Ami's temple to playfully ruffle a few of her blue locks, then let her fingers linger curled upon her cheek, smiling gently. Ami blinked at her, cheeks slowly suffusing with color over the course of a few seconds, and Makoto's hand twitched away in surprise.

"Y-you don't say," Ami said shyly.

Makoto awkwardly fumbled about for the right words. "I think it's true." She wished for a more poetic assurance, or at least a more confident one. To her quiet astonishment, Ami greeted her words with an almost girlish smile and shrug. Makoto wondered how much of her surprise showed; Ami turned away from her gaze and stood. She turned off the room light, inking the room in deep indigo and black and pale gold as the city lights leaked in around the half-drawn curtains.

The soft bed barely shifted under Ami as she settled back in. They slid under the sheets and the secure weight of the comforter.

--

Something icy cold pressed against the back of her neck. Makoto twitched involuntarily forward, hunching her shoulders against the unwanted sensation. Sleepily, her first thought was of Luna trying to wake her. Then she realized that the object was still there, and it had none of the cat's gentleness. It was cold, hard, and unmistakably metallic, and she heard the quick breath of people in the room who were not Ami.

A man's voice, gravely and hoarse, spoke aloud in the room. The voice dripped smugness, and she guessed that he knew she was awake, given away by the change in her breath. Slender fingers interlocked with her own for a reassuring squeeze, telling her that Ami was awake as well, without chancing antagonizing their visitors. The thick, stubby barrel of a small pistol jabbed repeated against Makoto's back, accompanied by a string of unpleasant-sounding, if unintelligible, words.

Ami spoke up next to her, softly replying. Makoto was by no means an expert, but the language sounded just slightly different to her, not so... nasally as she remembered from their time in Brazil thus far. She wondered whether it was some different dialect. They continued talking back and forth, and the man holding the gun to Makoto seemed to become more agitated. The other, for Makoto swore that she'd heard another breath in the room before it had gotten so noisy with talking, had yet to speak. The barrel was removed from her neck, and she felt the tip of it drag over her shoulder. Through her trained detachment to the threat, she felt a cold flush of fear, followed by a glowing spike of anger as she realized he was probably turning the weapon to Ami.

"He's going to turn on the light," Ami told her, falling back into Japanese, he warns us not to move, his partner has a weapon trained on us as well."

"Ami-chan, what's going o--" a rough voice barked out a clear warning to stop her chatter, and Makoto pursed her lips. The light flickered on, revealing two swarthy men who looked to be in their later years standing in the room. They wore the uniforms of the hotel staff, and held two small arms steadily at them. Makoto swallowed with a dry throat as she observed both of them had nothing to obscure their faces. Criminals of any kind, whether these were the enemy she sought or not, didn't leave behind witnesses to identify them. Makoto met the speaker's flinty, dark eyes with her own undisguised hostility.

He spoke again, gesticulating with his free hand. "Hands where he can see them," Ami translated, slowly bringing her arms out from under the covers. From their laying position, they raised their hands to the top of the headboard and were made to hold them there. Ami glanced over at her and spoke further, "He also says that you have a respectable lack of fear of them, being only a simple tourist girl suddenly faced with two armed men in her sleep."

Makoto filed that away to feel bad about later; in this case, she also wondered if it really mattered. She imagined that even had Ami's story held water with them, they wouldn't have had any qualms about removing them anyway.

He spoke again, laughing, then paused for Ami to translate. His eyes were fixed maliciously on Makoto's, and he was clearly enjoying this little game, watching her face as his words were related to her. She turned her head slightly to look at Ami as she spoke. Her blue eyes were filled with revulsion.

"He says that it doesn't really matter what I say, though. If we are here to cause trouble for them, there's a chance that we'd never admit it. It we're just innocent tourists, it's a shame, but... he says, at least we're a couple of pretty, ripe young tourists."

The implication was clear. Somewhere beneath a welling of horror from a less worldly part of her heart, though, Makoto felt a surge of triumph. Her mind had been searching fruitlessly for something to do should these two want to just shoot them where they lay, but if they were determined to try and have their fun first, that would mean getting closer. Evidently she had been right about one thing, even she, clearly tall and strong for most women, looked fairly nonthreatening when she wasn't tossing lightning about. That might be the one thing about to keep them alive today. She briefly considered trying to screw her face up into some semblance of fear, but kept up her genuine front of repugnance and loathing for the distasteful pair. He only laughed, though, and gave Ami one last thing to translate.

"'Fine by me,' he says, 'I like to play rough, and scared little waifs aren't very good at that.'" Ami spoke calmly, but Makoto recognized the danger in her gaze. The frosty element had left her eyes, and now coursed through them like a river engorged and unstoppable with thawed ice. Ami didn't anger easily or often, but this was apparently enough for her. The man walked towards the edge of the bed. He changed grip on the pistol, holding it with his left and jabbing it into her gut through the covers in clear warning. His tongue flicked over an oily smile, and he raised his hand to her face, cupping her chin, then cheek. Roughly, he pressed two of his fingers against her lips. She pursed them at first, resisting. He increased the force, bruising her lips against her teeth and making them feel as though they might split. Briefly, she wondered how long she might survive, and in what kind of condition, after a gut shot. Enough to dispatch him and the other and keep Ami alive, she somehow doubted. Swallowing a rise of bile in her throat, she parted her lips for his calloused hands and he swirled them sickeningly in her mouth, manipulating her tongue and stroking the sides of her cheeks. Hate continued to emanate from emerald eyes, but he had stopped caring. She longed for, prayed for some kind of slip, preferably before he went too much further, and to her hastily concealed gratitude she got it. His gun hand relaxed, and slowly started to migrate back towards himself and the sudden activity in his trousers.

Makoto sensed Ami stiffen up beside her, and she carefully moved her foot over to tap Ami's, hoping to somehow convey a reassurance. She focused her attention on his face, as though all she could think about was being angry at him, not noticing his other activity. She felt the barrel slip over her stomach, and immediately acted before he had a chance to consider his mistake. She ground down with her teeth, hard enough to to feel an infusion of salty copper in her mouth, and brought her hands down to trap the man's trapped limb in an arm-lock that she forced unmercifully until she heard a loud snap.

Expecting any moment to feel the shock of a bullet in her side, she glanced over to see Ami rolling off the bed and into the other man's legs. He fired one shot downward before falling over, and Makoto's heart stopped. Forgetting the man slumped in agony over her lap, she pushed him off and leaped over the side of the bed to join in the tangle of limbs that he and Ami had become. He tried ferociously to fight them off, his flailing arms and legs scoring a few painful blows on the two girls, but Makoto managed to find his his face and, unable to think of anything cleaner and more appropriate, punched him repeatedly until he became a little more docile. Ami found his gun and held it to his temple as he lay groaning, blood seeping from his nose and lips. Makoto cautiously ventured to the far side of the bed now, but found the other fellow still cradling his arm. He still held the gun, but Makoto was on him before he could release his ruined joint and ready the weapon. She gave the injured arm a cruel twist and the gun fell from his suddenly nerveless grasp. He didn't scream, just hissed in pain. Makoto might have felt a grudging admiration for that, if she hadn't seen so many of his other qualities recently.

"What now, Ami-chan?" she called. Makoto's breath came in deeply, and evenly, though her stomach was clenched almost painfully tight with adrenaline and fear and fury, "Do we call the police?"

She met Ami's gaze over the bed, and the other woman winked slowly and deliberately at her.

"Probably so, Mako-chan. That's not what I'm going to say next, though." Ami spoke in their language again. An uncharacteristically rough tone edged into her voice, and she capped the performance with a harsh laugh.

"What did you say?"

"I said that the police were probably corrupt and in their pocket, and wondered aloud how we might best dispose of them." Her voice held that same tone, and it took Makoto a startled moment to remember that such things transcended language; she'd used that to her own advantage earlier.

"Do you think the police really are on their side?" Makoto asked gruffly, trying to get into the act.

Ami chuckled darkly. "No, they're likely decent officers here to protect and serve the citizens."

Makoto nodded slowly, "So that is the plan?"

"More or less. I think we could stand to ask them a few questions first."

"Ah, but if they think we're going to 'dispose' of them anyway..."

"We're going to see how much further our new thespian skills can take us. Mako-chan, would you do me a favor and transform?"

Despite the gravity of the situation, Makoto had to suppress a giggle at Ami speaking politely with such an abrasive voice. She complied. The feeling of lightning in her veins and filling her heart was a welcome confluence to the anger in her breast.

"Move him over here, let's get them together."

Sailor Jupiter moved him--none too gently--over to his companion. Ami stood and walked with designed arrogance to Jupiter's side. Though having no experience with them herself, and certain that Ami did not either, she thought that her friend held the firearm with a decided air of menacing command.

"Hold up a hand and glare at them. Smile wickedly, if you can manage it."

Jupiter managed, somehow, and Ami spoke to them. She spoke lowly, and at length. The men grew more and more concerned looking, by turn bringing hands up to clutch at their throat, their stomachs. Their eyes later blinked in uncomprehending horror, and the one with two hale arms clutched the the junction of his legs and whimpered shamelessly.

"Most people are quite frightened of lightning, and what they believe it can do to them," Ami noted. Sailor Jupiter resisted the urge to glance sidelong at her, wondering if she _really_ wanted to know what Ami had said to them. As her friend had observed, they were very much terrified by whatever electricity-induced terrors Ami had promised, and babbled and rambled seemingly endlessly, Makoto unable to pick out a word. Ami listened intently, however, and asked a few pointed questions. Smiling in satisfaction, she turned to Sailor Jupiter and nodded shortly and barking a rough order in the language before translating it for her. Ami turned her back to the men,"Lights out for these two, if you would. I promised them a quicker demise if they cooperated, but do keep them alive."

Jupiter gave them both measured blows to the base of their skulls, and checked their eyes for consciousness. She saw Ami getting dressed, and with a little reluctance was at her side in a moment, changing from her pajamas as well.

"So now what?" Makoto asked.

"Is there a laundry drop nearby? I would prefer that we have no connection to these two, and just drop an anonymous phone call."

"I'll go check."

Makoto went into the hall and looked around. She failed to find anything so enjoyable and anonymous as a laundry hamper, so they made do with stashing the pair in the stairwell. Ami also grabbed a bottle from the mini bar in the room and splashed its contents liberally about them. She grimaced at the price tag--somewhat ridiculously, Makoto thought, until it was translated to yen for her, in which case she sputtered a bit as well.

"Now then, I'm going to check us out. That shouldn't look to unusual, it's early morning now," Makoto glanced at the clock when Ami said that, surprised to find that it was past four in the morning, "I'll just say that we want to avoid traffic on the way to the river boat dock."

"Are we going to another hotel, then?"

"No, we actually are going to the river boat dock. Our guest told me where our enemy is quartered, it's around a smaller city known as Belém, near where the river opens to the sea."

Makoto exclaimed disbelievingly, "All the way back across the country!"

"Yes. At least we're not driving this time."

After a few frustrated moments, Makoto could only return Ami's sweet smile, "Good thing those gentlemen stopped by to give us directions. Saved us all kinds of trouble in the city."

The pair quickly finished dressing and packing and wandered downstairs, trying to appear sleepy, but excited like fresh-faced tourists. Feeling oddly guilty hurrying from the hotel in the middle of the night, Makoto followed Ami to the jeep, and they drove to the nearest dock. They learned a boat would be leaving for a dawn trip in less than two hours, so they settled in to wait on a small bench facing the river, eschewing the interior of the river tours lobby. There they kept both an eye out for other enemies, neither needing to speak the possibility that they were still being watched, and managed to find a peaceful enjoyment as the morning sun rose brightly above the city and pooled beautifully into the running river water. It wasn't long after that before their transportation arrived. It was a tall river boat; rustic, yet reassuringly solid and clean-appearing. Just like something out of an old movie or book, which was probably part of the business's appeal. The boarding ramp lowered, and Ami and Makoto were the first to board today. They put their things in the small bunk room they were directed to. Makoto felt restless still, knowing that she should probably get some more rest, but having already gotten enough to be wide-awake. She told Ami that she was going to the deck, and was pleased to find her friend by her side. They stood at the rail and watched the other travelers board, and enjoyed the first exhilarating period of travel together in dawn's light.


	7. Chapter 7

"It's all very real, isn't it, Mako-chan?" Ami said suddenly, eyes fixed pensively on the floor. They were back in their bunk below deck. Makoto was busy trying to jam some of their luggage into an overhead compartment to save some space. They were welcome to two thin, firm cots fixed into the sides, on the walls, with barely enough room for them each to stand between if they wished. Ami was perched on the edge of her cot, and Makoto couldn't see her face from where she stood.

"What do you mean?" A side of Ami's pack started to slide out, and Makoto had to hurriedly press it back in before it dragged the rest with it. She strained her attention to follow what Ami was saying.

"Everything. There really are people in the world, organized people, that hate us."

Makoto paused now in her activity, wondering at the catch in Ami's voice. All during their mission so far, Ami had been the logical voice of reason, to the point of being cold at times. She'd almost neglectfully tossed out cautionary warnings about their safety and the chance of one of them not making it back home. Makoto had found it unsettling, in truth.

"Looks like it." Makoto sat down next to Ami and tossed an arm around her shoulder for a little hug. Ami acknowledged it with a twitch of her lips and no more.

"Maybe I shouldn't be so surprised."

"No? I sure was," Makoto replied genuinely. "You can babble on philosophically about human nature all day, but seeing it in action really _does _make it more real."

Makoto kept her pulled close. Words could only do so much. Makoto felt the desire to be close to her friend as well, after everything that had happened; if she could only find comfort in doing to comforting, well that's the way it was going to be. The previous night had been much a blur, fighting and fleeing and no time to think about anything more. Makoto now found the events settling in around her shoulders like an uneven weight, and she rolled her shoulders uncomfortably. As though the same thoughts coursed through her mind at the same time, Makoto felt Ami start under her. She turned up to Makoto, panicked concern written on her face and fists tightened hunched in chagrin.

"Mako-chan! What was I thinking?"

"Slow down, what did you think?" Makoto replied, mind whirling with grim possibilities.

"The enemy knows for sure there are senshi in the country now, or they will. I had you transform right in front of them. If they have any way at all to contact the others..." Ami scored her lip with little teeth. Makoto's breath tightened with the realization, too.

"Even if they can't," Makoto started slowly, "The enemy might try to find them. Even the good officers might go around telling stories about the drunk bums yelling about Sailor Jupiter, if they say anything to the police." Try as she might, the scenarios in which the rest of the enemy found out about this far outnumbered the slim potential for it remaining hidden.

"Mako-chan, do you think they could pick you out in a crowd?"

Makoto bit back a string of unpleasant language, but thought about it. "I'm not sure. Between my hair being down and the darkened skin, I don't think they'd know me if I was back to normal. It'll be a while before this skin-tone dye wears off, though. If we run into those same two again, I'm really not sure."

"A little more disguise work, then," Ami sighed. "I'm so sorry. I wasn't thinking clearly at all."

"I wasn't thinking clearly either, Ami-chan, you're not alone in that," Makoto replied gently. "If those two had tried to lay a single slimy finger on you," Makoto's eyes darkened, but tried to shove the idea from her mind. She put forth a more confident front. "Forget coherent thought last night, I was just disappointed you were only making empty threats." Makoto grinned self-consciously.

"That did shake me badly," Ami admitted, "Seeing you and that..." Ami shuddered under her arm and Makoto held her even closer.

"Probably luck for them him that I broke his arm, then."

"Huh?" Ami blinked uncomprehendingly at Makoto's odd statement.

"Who _knows _what you might have done to the poor guy if he'd gone any further. The way you had them cringing and cowering, I'll bet they would have had a terrible time with you."

Ami flushed under Makoto's broad grin. She smiled shyly back, and looked thoughtfully over Makoto's shoulder. Makoto looked behind her, but Ami reached back and grabbed hold of her hair.

"Mako-chan, have you ever thought of braids?"

A short while later, Makoto was inspecting Ami's handiwork in the small bathroom's mirror. Her hair had been divided into two long braids, even longer than normal as it was pulled straight from its curls; then the braids had been doubled up on themselves to make two loops hanging to just below her shoulder blades. It certainly made her hair look shorter. Ami had even, with a comb and a bit of water, teased her curly bangs flat against her scalp. Nobody would call her hair curly nor long now, and the color was far from remarkable.

It may have been good for a disguise, but Ami still laughed at the way Makoto's face subtly changed the longer she looked at her reflection. "It might not be the best look in the world," Ami admitted, "But you're hidden, right?" Makoto raised an eyebrow at the mirth that accompanied the words.

"So how about you? They saw you as well, Ami-chan."

Ami didn't look altogether concerned. "I'll just bunch my hair up under a wide hat. We could do that for you too, if you wanted a little cut...?"

Makoto reflexively put a pair of protective hands to her braids, "Ah, that's okay, Ami-chan." Riled slightly from her thwarted hair-based retribution, Makoto asked another question on her mind. "So how long are we going to be on this boat?"

"Four or five days, depending on the weather," Ami said. "No longer than a week, for sure."

It turned out to be five days. On the way a passenger fell sick and an extra stop had to be made at a nearby town that delayed them for a time. Nobody else suffered any ill effects, so it appeared to just be misfortune on that woman's part. Makoto and Ami took a lesson from their recent experience and slept in shifts, much as they had when driving. Makoto remained wary, any one of their fellow passengers could have been unfriendly; if Ami's warnings hadn't sufficed to make Makoto distrustful before, she certainly was now. Ami also continued to obviously berate herself over what had happened, despite all of Makoto's attempts to disabuse her of that guilt. It seemed all the extra time for thought wasn't being put to any positive use by her quiet friend.

The constant stress and her frustration with Ami's low spirits gnawed away at Makoto's nerves. She felt her own stab of guilt whenever that would influence her to snap irritably at Ami, but even more so at how Ami seemed to accept it as something she was deserving of. That, at least, helped Makoto to learn to keep her mouth shut. Instead, she often turned to chasing her own thoughts. A gradual understanding of her friend came through those times. Ami was lauded as Sailor Mercury, the Senshi of Wisdom, the smart one, the genius. Now, she was fully convinced of her failure in all of those qualities. Makoto thought she was being far too hard on herself, but nothing she said seemed to make it through to her. _What do I have to do to make her understand? _Ami was determined to be harsher on herself than anybody else would be. All Makoto wanted right now was to be close to Ami, after the close call they had experienced, but at the same time she couldn't bear to be with her like this. Makoto ended up spending a good deal of the trip downriver on deck, while Ami stayed below. They were q quiet, gloomy pair that disembarked in Belem.

"Another big one," Makoto said neutrally. Ami nodded, though she didn't offer her usual little exposition on the particulars of this city. Makoto wondered if that was because she wasn't as familiar with a city they hadn't planned on visiting, or if she just didn't feel like talking. They traversed the city streets of this newest metropolitan monster and rented another vehicle, conveniently spying a little thrift store on the way from which Ami purchased a wide-brimmed hat that she could tuck just about all her hair under. She was short enough compared to the rest of the populace, too, that most had to be either stooped or rather youthful to actually see her hair--or the rest of her facial features, for that matter. A pair of sunglasses for Makoto at the same location completed their almost comically stereotypical, but quite effective disguises. They took of in their new transportation, a little gray economy car this time. Makoto felt it rather cramped after the roomy jeep. They threw their stuff in the back and started off down the streets. In this fashion she hoped that they were making their way through the city in some amount of anonymity.

Ami took them to the highway, eating a good half-hour just getting East through the city congestion, but then exited to country roads where they made good time. South along the country and across a bridge was the path Ami spoke of; they had to stop at a few rural homesteads to ask directions, not all of the lesser-traveled roads had made their way into the GPS system. Makoto kept an even closer eye on Ami than usual. She displayed her concerns in the twitches of her lips and the restless movement of her idle hand. Makoto didn't ask and Ami didn't venture, but the former got the feeling that they were very close to their destination. For no readily apparent reason, Ami pulled the car over to the side of the road, confirming those suspicions.

"This is where we have to get out, Mako-chan."

Makoto nodded, and opened her door without another word, after a moment's thought tossing her sunglasses atop the passenger seat after herself. she felt she would need to keep a sharp eye out from here, and those wouldn't help. Ami's wide woven hat glided to the floorboard as her friend got out as well. Makoto retrieved her pack from the backseat and slung it over her shoulders almost carelessly, trying to appear nonchalant. In all reality, Ami's odd demeanor continued to worry her far more than anything else right now. It was something of a relief to see a flash of lively determination in her blue eyes as Ami looked into the brush off the road, though there was a disquieting lack of optimism all the same. They took a deep breath, and marched into the forest.

Makoto was quickly reminded of their first day here, weeks ago. Back to the same sense of wild solitude, the loamy, earthy smells mixing with sharp, fragrant perfumes; the bird-calls and animal shrieks and insect buzzes and chirps that hushed idle chatter before it could begin, ears perked to hear all that there could be. The heat was a similar, if more unwanted, memory. She was suddenly glad for her odd braids, as they did help keep a lot of hair of her scalp and neck, keeping her minutely cooler. Among the brilliant filtered greens of light breaking through the canopy, Makoto also watched Ami walk beside her, deep in thought.

"Mako-chan, what happens if they were telling the truth?" Ami said.

"I guess it would be short-sighted of me to say, 'we kick their butts,' eh?" Makoto said lightly, but pondered the question. She wasn't sure why she were being asked such a thing, but she wanted to provided a succinct answer. "Do we call the others?"

"Do we?" Ami closed her eyes, "I don't know. Sailor Teleport isn't always that accurate, and even if it was, it's a little..."

"Flashy?"

"Yes. And without two of the senshi, we don't know what kind of condition they would arrive in. Whatever Usagi-chan said, I"m sure that was more taxing than anybody wanted to admit."

"Having three weakened senshi pop in close to enemy headquarters with a bang and a flash." Makoto shook her head, "That's just asking for somebody to get hurt. That would give out position away immediately, while they would be able to stay hidden. They know the area better, too."  
"Very much so. We can't even be sure that we'll take them by surprise." Ami stopped then, in the middle of the path. "Rather, there's every chance that they know we're coming. There's an even better chance that one day as we're walking along, we'll both just drop over dead." Makoto saw a certain familiar look in Ami's eyes.

"You're not gonna start yelling about how you were too stupid to realize this earlier, are you?" Makoto asked pointedly.

"Well, it's true, isn't it?" Ami said defensively.

"No, it isn't!"

"Yes, it is!" Ami yelled back. Makoto couldn't believe she was having this argument, nor the absolute defiance with which Ami professed her own inadequacy.

"What is the matter with you all of a sudden?" Makoto asked furiously, "You never used to be so stupid about these things! Since when have you ever decided it's just time to lay down and die after making a mistake?!"

"Since one of my mistakes almost got you raped and killed!" Ami replied with equal fervor. Ami stood facing her with her hands clenched at her sides and jaw set in a stubborn line. When she said that though, Makoto's angry face softened, and Ami could barely stand it. Her fingers loosened, and though she tried to hold them back tears leaked from the corners of her eyes. Ami tried to turn away, but Makoto was going to have none of it. She stepped forward and hugged Ami. Only long enough to be sure that she wasn't going to go away when she stopped, however. Makoto took a step back, and when Ami raised her moist eyes in question, Makoto struck her on the cheek. Not with all her strength, but enough to hopefully get a message through to her. Ami's face snapped to the side under the force of the slap, and she turned back to Makoto with a look of incredulity replacing the sadness. She brought a hand up to the darkening skin on her cheek.

"Ami-chan," Makoto started talking in a low, serious tone. "You're not the only one that thought of all these things. I know the enemy probably knows we're coming, I know what could happen to us along the way. I followed you anyway. Do you know why?"

Ami mutely shook her head.

"Because I trust you with my life. I trust that Ami-chan knows what she's doing. I trust that she's not going to run off half-cocked like me, or get so worried about meaningless things in the past that she can't focus. I trust that Ami-chan is going to do like she always does. she's going to consider all the details, measure all of our advantages and disadvantages, and come up with a brilliant plan. Maybe it was Sailor Moon who would always run off pure emotion and save the day at the very end, but nobody ever seems to remember that she, that all of us, would have fallen in some battle long ago if Mercury hadn't been there to skillfully guide us through a number of tough battles and foes."

"Mako-chan..."

"Are you going to sit there and tell me that my trust is misplaced for such a worthless reason? There have been plenty of close calls, I can't count the number of times one of us _almost _died, but suddenly it's _your_ fault this time? Why? Because you're the only other one here, process of elimination or something? If you're so worried about me, pull yourself together and come up with a plan that gets us through this."

Ami reacted like she'd been struck again, just from the force of Makoto's words. Makoto moved forward again, and Ami drew back slightly, but this time it was just so Makoto could pull her into a more genuine embrace. Ami could feel Makoto trembling slightly from her outburst. Makoto nestled her cheek atop Ami's hair. She wanted to hold Ami, but she also didn't want her friend to see the wetness lining her eyes.

"I know how you feel, Ami-chan. I was scared to death for you that night. It keeps running over and over in my mind, what could have happened if they'd gone after you first, or if he hadn't made that mistake. Please, don't beat yourself up over anything, I'm just so happy you're okay. So happy." Makoto took a deep, shuddering breath to keep from breaking down any more than she already had. She was supposed to be the strong one, the implacable oak to which the others could look to for support. She could be weak on her own time. when she pulled away and looked Ami in the face again, it was with a clear green gaze that betrayed nothing. Ami's face spoke of everything she was feeling now, however, unashamedly. Makoto saw gratitude there, and apology. What was most relieving to see, though, was the return of her seemingly unshakable faith. So long as Ami believed there was a way, Makoto had never felt doubt. It took her by surprise when Ami shoved her way back into a hug, though, and she was glad Ami couldn't see the look on her face when she did.

"When you say it like that, Mako-chan, I have to believe you. I'm glad we felt the same. I promise I'll do all I can to get us through this. Thank you."

"It's only because I believe in you that I can be brave," Makoto said softly; Ami didn't answer, and Makoto had to wonder if she'd heard at all.


	8. Chapter 8

"There now, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Makoto nodded her head approvingly. It had been only the work of a few minutes silent thought for Ami's eyes to brighten and a decisive declaration of, "I have a plan," to come about.

"Mako-chan," Ami said, her bottom lip turned in a light pout, "Turn around."

"What?"

"Turn around, I said."

Makoto stared at her for a second longer, then shrugged and spun about on one heel. Her hands were clasped behind her back and she whistled a short bar of music, just because it felt like the sort of thing one should do when clueless and turning about. Far be it for her to ask questions; after their talk just now this seemed like a wonderful occasion to display some of that trust she had stressed to Ami. Some odd shuffling reached her ears, and wondered what Ami was rummaging in behind her. She couldn't resist asking one little question along those lines, but it only got her a brusque, "you'll see" in response.

"Hold this." A brief order sounded from directly behind her, and Makoto had to work not to jump. She hadn't heard Ami approach. A cloth-wrapped bundle was shoved into her hands. She automatically started to bring it back around before she thought Ami might not want her too, but upon hearing no objection went ahead and had a look. Picking at the cloth, Makoto gazed questioningly at it for a few seconds. With a start, she realized that these weren't any spare scraps of beige cloth. Her eyes widened like saucers, and she spun about, no matter what Ami had said.

"Ami-ch--"

"Mercury Crystal Power, make up!"

Makoto saw a light and her vision barely seemed to ripple, or shimmer, like the surface of a clear pond in a sudden gust of wind. By the time her eyes could focus from her whirling about, Sailor Mercury stood before her. Makoto's breath caught as she looked at Mercury's face; her eyes were closed and her faced composed to an image of complete serenity, with lips gracefully curving up at the edges to form a beautifully modest smile. There was a little oddness, in that Makoto could see a gradual bleeding out of tone around Ami's shoulders and thighs, where there had been cover before. They hadn't full-body applied the skin dye, so right before the short fuku sleeves and extending a few inches below the skirt were Ami's usual pale skin, looking almost ghostly in contrast. Bright blue eyes opened and held the image together for a split-second, and then a glint of mischievousness shattered through her calm expression and she grinned more impishly.

"Can I get those back?"

Makoto broke from her brief reverie, and she looked back to her hands. Her face grew hot, and she shoved her arms forward to Ami, head turned and refusing to make eye contact. Ami just laughed, a chiming, light little sound, and Makoto felt Sailor Mercury take back her khaki top and bottom. Taking a brief respite from her grumpy little embarrassment, Makoto grinned wryly at her friend trying to work the shirt and shorts over her padded sailor uniform and skirt. It quite obviously wasn't working well, though Ami managed to make them fit to some degree or another. Makoto still couldn't contain her laughter at the uncomfortable-looking and decidedly more lumpy Mercury.

"You look..." Makoto really didn't want to say "ridiculous," even if it were the first thing that had popped into her mind, "What _are _you doing with yourself?" She asked instead.

Mercury looked embarrassed as she looked herself over, "We need Sailor Mercury here, but bright white and blue are a little bit easier to see coming than these khakis, I thought this would work..." Makoto enjoyed a fresh flurry of giggles at her expense. That cool, composed Mercury _knew _how odd she looked only made Makoto more amused. Mercury coughed, and tried in vain to regain some of the tranquility of moments before. She failed spectacularly. Makoto, seeing her try, decided to relent anyway.

"Good thinking. It, ah, doesn't really matter how you look, if the object is to not be seen." Makoto thought she had done quite a respectable job in trying to sound serious, but Mercury raised an eyebrow at her as if guessing at her continued mirth. She smiled prettily, however, and picked her pack back up.

"Ah, Mercury."

"Yes?"

"Your gloves, and boots too," Makoto pointed. Mercury looked down for a moment, frowning in consternation. then she laughed, and tugged the gloves off.

"Blue," Makoto said in surprise.

"So they are," Mercury replied, looking at her perfectly painted fingernails. She amused herself with trying to pick the color off, but it didn't seem to be polish, or at least not like any polish she or Makoto had ever used. "The perfect manicure, hidden under gloves all this time," Mercury smiled.

"And the boots? They're probably not as noticeable, but if you're trying to be camouflaged it couldn't hurt."

"Right." Sailor Mercury sat down on the loamy ground and put a hand to either side of one of her boots. "I'll just take these off and put on my other..." She stopped.

"What's the matter?"

"My hiking boots," Ami put a tired hand to her temple, "I transformed in them. Somehow, it doesn't feel like this should be so complicated." Makoto just shrugged. Mercury pulled her gloves back on and changed back. Ami was pleased to find that the lumpy over-clothing she'd made of the khakis fit right back into place when she transformed back, and they went through the process all over again, this time setting the boots off to the side as well. Makoto held her clothes with her back turned again, this time not knowing how to feel about knowing what was behind her--and wondering a bit at why somebody she'd been to hot springs with would ask her to turn around now, Ami still had her undergarments on, even--but relieved at some level that she wasn't having to try to hide and amount of ogling. Ogling wasn't polite, really, and Makoto knew that she would have been quite rude had she been turned around.

"Ah, Mako-chan?" Mercury asked a short time into the process, as she was down on the ground again trying to pull off a boot.

"What's up?"

"Could you help me with this boot?" She sat on the ground, smiling apologetically and scratching her cheek with one little crooked finger. Makoto rolled her eyes, and knelt to help her. The boots were more difficult to get off than she expected. They _were _rather form-fitting, and Makoto got the distinct impression they weren't exactly made to come off. Ever. They managed it (finding the world's finest pedicure as well) and she laced up her still new-looking brown hiking boots instead. They stored the boots and gloves in one of the packs.

"So what happens if you change back without putting them back on?"

"To be honest, Mako-chan, I'd rather not find out. It might be because I feel like I'm breaking some unspoken senshi rule about the uniform, or it might be because I'd rather not have _everything_ I've learned of physics invalidated just yet."

"You mean any more than it already has been?"

"Hush." Mercury frowned with mock severity and turned to the surrounding foliage. One hand reached to her temple, and Makoto saw the edge of her visor flash into existence. From her angle, she could just see inside the device, and make out tiny characters scrolling around and symbols flitting about the screen. Mercury turned to her, and there was only the transparent blue pane. "Now that I'm thinking more clearly, this seems like it should have been obvious. I'll screen for human presence as we go along. We'll still have to move quietly, but this should help even the odds with those familiar with this place."

"Should we make an effort to only travel at night, or anything like that?"

Mercury considered it. "No, no I don't think so. We'll make more noise in the dark, and sounds seem to carry rather oddly at night. I'd feel more comfortable taking cover at night and catching our rest, where we can be the ones still and listening for intruders."

"Makes sense to me." Makoto nodded. "Lead the way."

--

Later that evening as the tawny sun began to fade through the overhead leaves, Makoto chose a place to set up "camp." It seemed something of an insult to camps everywhere to call it so, but she thought it sounded better than "sleeping bags under a tree and a couple of low plants." They didn't make a fire, of course, not that they needed it for warmth. The nocturnal skylights were brighter than Makoto would have thought, she was a little pleased to find. It wasn't much, just enough to make out the outlines of closer objects, but that was infinitely more comforting than the inky blackness she had been privately dreading.

When it came time to decide who would take first watch, Makoto was only too grateful to agree to the second. Mercury mentioned a little self-consciously that she'd had plenty of time to rest when she'd kept to the bunk during the riverboat trip. Makoto was just glad that she'd take the shift that would get lighter at the end. Mercury had her visual light filters, but Makoto was a little uneasy at the thought of straining her ears and eyes for anything suspicious when she wasn't even sure what she was trying to detect. She laid atop her sleeping bag, not unzipping it. She couldn't putting herself between any more layers of cloth than her clothing, in this climate, and only modesty and protection kept those on. For the moment, it was just something to keep her from laying on the dirt, and hopefully keep a few bugs off. She didn't hold out much hope for that, the sort of bugs that she and Ami had seen commonly on the forest floor the whole trip weren't the type to let a little thing like an inch or so of elevation keep them from a meal of delicious senshi, but she hoped it would help. Makoto watched Mercury settle down as comfortably as she could in a depression among the roots of the nearby tree.

"G'night."

"Good night, Mako-chan. Sweet dreams."

Whether she had them or not, any dreams at all fled instantly when Makoto was shaken awake in the dead of the night. She yawned--quietly as she could--and arched a back stiff from the lumpy, hard earth and loam. She rolled over and pushed herself up, blinking in the darkness.

"Mercury?" She whispered, disoriented and unable to recall where anything had been. A touch on her shoulder directed her to the tree Mercury sat at, and Makoto sat at her side.

"You ready to catch some shuteye?"

"I'll stay up with you a few minutes, to help you wake up."

"Good call." Makoto nodded, mind still filled with cotton balls and cobwebs. This was hardly the situation or locale for restful sleep, and getting only a few hours was stretching things that much thinner for her. She sat there with Mercury, dredging herself up to a state of wakefulness until she didn't think sleep was possible again if she'd tried. She told Sailor Mercury that it was fine to trade off now. Her friend crept out from the tree, but instead of crawling onto the sleeping bag as Makoto had expected, she heard her rummaging around in the packs.

"Hungry?" She whispered.

"No." Came the hushed reply, "Mako-chan, do you think you could help me find my gloves and boots?"

"Wait, why?"

"So I can change back."

"You need to change back?"

There was a silence. "I... I don't know. Don't I? I never really thought about it."

Makoto considered. Strange, the peculiarities of being a senshi that had never really come up until now. _Had _one of them ever gone to sleep while transformed?

"I'm not sure either."

"If I try to fall asleep, mightn't I just transform back when I'm relaxed enough?"

"We never changed back when we got knocked unconscious or anything," Makoto pointed out.

"There's still a good deal of stress on the body in that situation," Mercury argued. "Shock and injury isn't the same as fatigue and sleep."

"So why don't you just change back? Why look for your stuff?" Mercury didn't answer, but somehow Makoto felt her discomfort with the idea. "Don't tell me you're still on about the physics?"

"The idea doesn't sit well with me, that's all," Mercury said, and Makoto could almost hear her lips twisted in a pout. She rolled her eyes, hidden in the dark.

"Fine, fine. I think I just stuffed them in with my other change of clothes." Makoto lurched forward to her hands and knees and scrambled over to help the Senshi of Wisdom protect her delicate sensibilities as to the nature of reality. After they'd managed to force her feet back into the boots, which was very nearly more difficult than getting them off in the first place, Ami bid her friend a fond good morning. Makoto figured it must be a bit past midnight, then. The morning came with a sense of relief, and the sun did the job of waking Ami for her. Makoto noticed that she hadn't seemed to have been sleeping well, but chalked it up to the environment. When Ami sat up blinking, though, she sported a grimace that had little to do with waking up early. Makoto watched her friend start, and begin searching through her pack rather intently.

"Hungry?"

"No," Ami replied shortly enough to give Makoto pause.

"Ah, the toilet pa--"

"Not that either."

A look of relief spread across Ami's face, and she ran with surprising speed into the trees with whatever she had found. When she returned she didn't look much more comfortable. She pulled a small bottle from her medical pack and swallowed a couple of pills with a sip of water.

"You okay, Ami-chan?"

"Cramps."

Makoto politely asked no more questions; thankfully her own had been relatively short and endured for the most part during the calm drive to Cuiaba. They ate a cold, hurried breakfast and Ami got undressed, then Mercury got dressed, and she continued to lead the way. Though she obviously tried to continue the hot, arduous march indifferently, Makoto occasionally saw a pained look cross Mercury's features. If her friend thought it unusual that Makoto suddenly became a little more supportive and a little less argumentative for a few days, she gave no sign.

It was in the middle of the third day that Makoto started to wonder about just where they were and how long it was going to take to get where they were not. Indeed, she started to consider whether their two unwilling informants had been misleading them, or were originally misled themselves somehow.

"No, Mako-chan. Or at least, not yet. We'll be here two or three more days before we actually arrive. We would have gotten there already had we went straight, but I'm taking us on a less direct path. If they know we're coming, let's not give them any help finding us."

Makoto reluctantly determined that if Mercury were going to willingly subject herself to this without a word of discontent, she could certainly follow without complaint. Without vocal complaint, at any rate. She couldn't know if Mercury was doing the same, but Makoto found it perfectly fair and reasonable to complain in her own thoughts about heat and bugs and sore feet. Also the delightful tree roots, which Makoto darkly suspected were gaining an irritating sentience and mobility, one that allowed them to insidiously slither whilst she slept so that she awoke to the most awkward and painful positions upon them.

Mercury soon began to speak of odd electromagnetic readings she was getting; odd, anyway, for an empty jungle. Makoto was both encouraged and concerned at her friends conjecture that this likely meant they had gotten accurate information and that some headquarters, or at least large base, was nearby, but it was worrisome to think that they had such an infrastructure that supported extensive electrical activity.

The first time that Mercury actually did find somebody made for an intense few hours. Makoto was walking without any other care than the usual one regarding her feet, when Sailor Mercury stopped stock-still and rigid as a pole. Quick enough on the uptake, Makoto knew better than to suddenly start asking questions. She paused alongside her, and looked at her friend's eyes until they slid slowly to the side and met. Mercury slowly shook her head in a tiny motion. Makoto wasn't sure what was going on quite yet, but until she was told more directly otherwise she figured that she was probably supposed to just stay still now.

And stay still they did; for what seemed an unbearably long time to Makoto. Mercury started to slowly move, keeping her eyes fixed in the same direction. Following her snail-crawl pace, Makoto was relieved when the Sailor Senshi beside her breathed a heavy sigh of relief and slumped against a nearby tree.

"What's going on, Sailor Mercury?" Makoto asked now, still whispering.

"I located somebody up in a tree not a hundred feet away," she answered, "I don't think he saw us. I didn't see him move, at least not while we were standing still. We'll skirt around this area from now on." She frowned, "All the interference from this brush and the wildlife isn't making things any easier, especially as I have to try and scan everywhere. This may be all the warning we ever get, Mako-chan."

"Gotcha. We should, ah, try and move more quietly, then."

"Probably."

The second occasion was actually the same day, and when Makoto said something about it Mercury confirmed that they were within two miles of their destination. Fortunately her scanning was able to catch the spotter on the other side of a small clearing, lending a short boost to her range with a gap in interference.

"So do we go in this evening," Makoto asked as they slunk around to avoid the sentry, "Or do we wait another night and start off fresh?"

"Tomorrow evening," Ami said. "We'll take a day to rest up and go in during the evening. We need a rest, and people tend to be biologically most alert in the morning, whatever their sleep schedule."

"Huh, I didn't know that."

"You pick things up here and there."

They found another secluded patch of brush to hunker down under to take their rest. As Makoto drew out another small supply of travel food for a small but satisfying supper, she felt a nagging tug in the pit of her stomach that she recognized all too well.

"Are you feeling better, Mercury?" She asked.

"Now that my period's over, yes. You never hear people talking about _that _in adventure stories."

"Not often, you don't," Makoto agreed. "Glad we're finally coming to the last few pages of this story. All that's left is to bust in with the power of love and justice and give them all a good spanking for being so rambunctious. Then we can get home."

"Yea, I suppose we can..." Mercury broke eye contact as she said this.

"You okay, Sail...?"

Mercury suddenly lay back on the ground with her head on her pack. She closed her eyes and sank into her bag. It took Makoto a moment to realize that she had transformed back; the boots and gloves in her pack must have gone away as well. Ami's eyes opened.

"I guess the universe didn't implode, though the thought of my things just vanishing from existence still makes me go cold all over, for some reason."

Makoto almost said something, but shook her head and smile. Smiled until Ami looked to her again with the same somber expression that she'd worn a moment before.

"We get to go home, huh, Mako-chan?"

"I'm looking forward to it," Makoto answered sincerely, "The kids are probably missing their sensei. At least I can hope they are, I kinda miss them, and my kitchen as well. At least I can't say I've been neglecting my exercise regimen."

"No," Ami chuckled, "You can't that. Perhaps I will stay around for another day or so after we get back. I miss your kitchen too."

"Another day or so?" Makoto raised a curious eyebrow in her direction before realization dawned, "Oh, Ami-chan, I hadn't...

"We both have lives to get back to." Ami agreed sadly. Makoto had been troubled at the realization already, but the reciprocated sadness in Ami's voice made it heartbreaking.

"I think I'll be sure to call you this time," Makoto asserted a little lamely, for lack of anything better to say. Her friend's lips twitched upwards.

"That would be nice."

"I'm not giving up our friendship again," Makoto continued more firmly, "Not for some silly little fears of mine."

"Fears, Mako-chan?"

"Nothing that matters right now," Makoto answered softly, but with a note of finality and an inner grumble at herself.

"I've really liked being with you again, Mako-chan."

"Me too."

As she said that, a good deal or reality seemed to catch up with her. Impulsively, Makoto reached out pressed Ami's hand to her lips for a long few seconds, a rare display of actual worry in her eyes, and none of it for herself. "Tomorrow is going to be dangerous," she said, invalidating her earlier bravado.

"Yes it is," Ami said simply. A great many things that Makoto wanted to say rushed through her mind. Instead, she just squeezed Ami's hand tightly, and from the warm smile Ami favored her with, she thought she was understood.

--

When the sun rose the next morning, Makoto found it rather hard to keep any of her senses focused on the outside. Her knees were drawn up to her chest, arms wrapped around them, and she lay her cheek atop them and watched Ami. Every once in a while something struck Makoto, in these rare, calm moments in which they were able to look forward and know that conflict approached. Ami looked so terribly fragile.

Even seeing her own hand in the corner of her eye was a strange experience. Her hand, that she knew was stronger than most, that she had seen afire with arcs of her guardian's power, looked a good deal more the flesh and blood that it was. Her entire body felt pitifully inadequate, delicate, so easy to damage. This wasn't something she ever wanted to think about, but years of training in martial arts had taught her two things about her body. Firstly, that a great many limitations were in her own mind, and secondly, that a great many limitations were _not_. No amount of physical or mental or physical control yet had allowed somebody to bounce a bullet or turn a knife point from bare flesh. She could dodge attacks, she could subdue opponents, but all it would take is one time getting caught off-guard or one lucky shot, and she would be gone. Makoto smiled sadly at Ami's peacefully sleeping form; she wanted her friend to have a super-human protector, but all she could offer was her own mortal self.

A sigh whispered through her lips and she buried her eyes in the back of her arms for a moment. She was no stranger to fear, for herself or her friends. It was more an encouraging old friend in her heart than any insidious presence chipping at her resolve. It was a reminder that she loved her friends, and that she had something to live for. As long as you looked fear squarely in the eye, and with respect, it respected you back. They'd had a few spats, especially where love were concerned, but she and fear generally got along fairly well. What people called courage was just facing the danger or problem with fear standing right by your side; not behind you nipping at your heels or in front of you supporting your enemy. Makoto allowed two shining tears to gather in her eyes and fall to moisten her dusty arms. This was something that didn't happen often with her, but these two uncommon tears represented to her the torrents that would come if she let anything happen to Ami. Then she raised her head and faced the forest with eyes that perfectly reflected its vibrant greenery. An easy smile tugged at her lips, a soft, fluid warmth spread through her as her worries melted away. She knew what was to come and what might happen, but there was no way she was going to allow her own worries to fulfill themselves by distracting her.

For right now, there was nothing dangerous going on. They were just a couple of tired, dirty, and a touch hungry young girls alone in the rainforest, resting up from a long hike. There was absolutely nothing in Ami's cute face to suggest that anything evil--or even mildly annoying--was nearby. Makoto bid fear a fond, apologetic farewell for a short while, and let herself believe that for a while.

--

"So, any new bits to your plan you'd like to dramatically reveal now, Ami-chan?" Makoto asked from around a mouthful of sweet, dense bread.

"Not until we get there. I have no idea what the base even looks like, except that I think it's underground."

"Underground, really?" Makoto had somehow been expecting a structure squatting low and imposing in the middle of the forest. That was a little silly of her to think, in retrospect, as that would be hard to hide under treetops. Why couldn't it be some little more-or-less permanent encampment, though?

Ami nodded. "Anything else would be much to easy to stumble across, really. There are low-flying aircraft all over the place, crop-dusters or private shuttle services. The canopy may be thick, but it's not impenetrable. All it would take is one sighting and off-hand mention from a pilot to send their operation scurrying away. Besides, I didn't know what to make of the electrical and metallic readings I was getting for a while during our hiking, but they do seem to support this theory."

"So how do we go about finding it?"

"I know the location well enough. I'm sure that when we get closer it'll reveal itself." Ami looked a little dubious about the prospect, but it seemed sound enough to Makoto. You couldn't plan out _every_ little detail. "We might want to transform now, as well." Ami said, reaching into her pocket. Makoto nodded and reached for her henshin as well.

"Jupiter Crystal Power, make up!"

"Mercury Crystal Power, make up!"

The flimsy, physical shell she was so worried about that morning filled throughout with a stolid resolve and resilience. A white rush of heat blazed through her body and melted away the ache in her muscles while a cool, moist breeze ruffled her hair in the otherwise hot, still air, carrying with it a sweet scent of rain that filled her nose and cleared her mind of fatigue. A more minor pleasure, the bright fuku she wore was clean and fresh, a welcome change from the increasingly gamey clothing she had been wearing for more than a few days without a wash. Jupiter felt her lips stretching back in a smile from the tingles of static crossing across her bare flesh and tickling the hair on her scalp, and she found herself closely watching Sailor Mercury's expression, and wondering what sensations she experienced when transforming that she always wore that same expression of absolutely content serenity. And, as she could think of no reason not to, she asked.

"What does it feel like?" Mercury echoed. "Um... I'm not sure how to describe it. Like I've been immersed into ice water, but it's not unpleasant. It's revitalizing and brisk and refreshing. It's like I've been cooled to..." Mercury looked suddenly embarrassed, "I don't know how else to put it, but like my mind, heart and soul has been cooled to optimal operating temperature.

"Optimal... operating... temperature," Jupiter reiterated, disbelievingly, but then she laughed. "Coming from Sailor Mercury, I can believe that."

"It feels different for you, then?" Mercury asked curiously.

"Just a little. It's like getting hit with everything a hurricane has to throw all at once, and enjoying the hell out of it." Sailor Jupiter flashed her a confident grin, and almost laughed aloud at the incredulous expression on her face.

"And you laughed at _me _for my explanation," Mercury mumbled none too quietly, then gave Jupiter a speculative look. "Hey, your hair is back to normal."

Jupiter reached up, eyes wide with astonishment, "Why, so it is. I wonder why?"

"We can worry about that later," Mercury said, obviously curious but with more pressing concerns on her mind, "Let's get going."

--

"There's nothing here." Sailor Jupiter felt and uncontrollable urge to point this out as they stood looking into a small clearing, no more than a few yards in diameter, from back some small distance into the trees. The space was small enough that the branches on the surrounding trees arched overhead and formed a ceiling. This was the closest unusual land feature to where Mercury said the entrance to the headquarters was supposed to be, so they were both hunkered down close to the ground, watching.

"The metallic readings are stronger here, though," Mercury argued softly. "I'd bet that the grounds thinner here, there's got to be an entrance."

"So how do we find it?"

"We don't. I don't know what kind of precautions they may have taken. We'll wait until one of those lookouts comes back to get relieved."

"How long will that take?"

Mercury shrugged helplessly, and Jupiter fought back a groan. She tried to make herself as comfortable as possible while she waited. It was probably no more than a few hours until Sailor Mercury warned of somebody approaching, and they heard careless footsteps on the loam a minute later. Sailor Jupiter tried her best to stay absolutely still, and convince herself that they were hidden in the brush. She tensed to run out as soon as an entrance was open, but she felt a hand on her arm and looked to see Sailor Mercury mouthing, "don't move."

Jupiter raised an eyebrow questioningly, but Mercury just gave her a warning look and turned back to the clearing. Jupiter watched in triumph as he stood there, and a section of ground quite literally rose up as though it were hinged on one end, which it probably was, and he walked down what appeared to be a flight of stairs. They heard the mumble of a few exchanged words and a laugh, and a woman walked up the stairs and strode off into the forest. Mingled with the triumph was a helpless frustration, though, as Mercury had kept a cautionary hand on her shoulder the entire time. When the door closed with a low-_whoomph!-Sailor_ Jupiter turned to her irritably, though she waited until the leaving female lookout was definitely out of earshot before she whispered,

"A little late to go in _now_, isn't it?"

"That was reconnaissance, Jupiter," her friend replied sweetly. "There's a camera pointed right at that entrance."

"How do you know that?" Jupiter asked, surprised. Sailor Mercury just tapped at the blue glass over her eyes, and Jupiter nodded sheepishly.

"Fine. Why don't I shut up a moment, and you tell me what else you noticed?"

"These are probably timed events that the enemy has memorized, or they've got some other to let them know somebody is up there, but I can't figure out what it would be. I don't see any detection equipment out here, and it would have to be an incredibly fine instrument that could tell from vibrations or something that there was a person walking up here, instead of any other large forest animal."

"So we have until the next lookout exchange?"

"Yes. Also, did you notice something about those two? I couldn't hear what they said, but they were laughing, and they weren't being at all cautious about coming here or going away. They don't seem to be alert to any threat. Maybe we got lucky with those two back in Manaus, or these guys just don't believe there's anything to worry about."

"So we have cameras, a time limit, and careless enemies. What do we do about all this?"

"We have plenty of time to get something together, so let's get comfortable and go over it," Mercury answered.

--

Sailor Jupiter had already gone over the plan so many times that when Mercury gave her a sharp nod to signify that somebody was coming, she didn't feel alarmed or excited or anything, more just relieved to get this over with already. This newcomer, another woman, stood for a moment, and the ground opened like it had before. She walked down and they heard a brief exchange of curt greetings. The fellow who walked out was as careless as anybody had been so far, and just started walking away into the forest without even a glance around. Luck was on Jupiter's side, he walked perpendicular to the entrance, away from the camera's sight. Sailor Jupiter counted his steps. One... two... three, she was going to have to time this perfectly, and absolutely _needed _the element of surprise.

"Flower Hurricane!" She hissed. Even as she spoke, she was already headed towards him, running nearly as fast as the gust of wind that flared in his direction. A swirl of bright flower petals and sweet aromas spun around him, flapping his clothing and making him squint his eyes. He gasped a startled oath and jerked his head around to the sides as though to find the source of this sudden disturbance, but by then Jupiter was on him and he was summarily rendered unconscious. She lifted him like a large rag doll and tucked him away into some undergrowth, hopefully to stay undisturbed.

"Now, Jupiter," Sailor Mercury nodded.

"Sparkling Wide Pressure!" As she spoke the release and the lightning ball in her hand flared to life, Sailor Jupiter focused and did her best to throw only a small fraction of the power. The result came as a low-energy projectile flying into the entrance and, instead of exploding and ripping a hole whatever it hit, scattering as a ripple of arcs across the metal walls. Sailor Jupiter hissed and gritted her teeth, trying to ignore the burning sensation crawling up and down her arm and the involuntary twitching of her fingers.

"It worked, the camera's out!" Mercury crowed, not noticing anything wrong with her companion. The pair rushed into the stairs, just as it came crashing down. Mercury paused a moment to allow thawing of her ice and the door groaned gratefully as it fell closed. They saw the woman who'd walked down a short way down the hall, back turned to them and shaking her hand before her face. Trusting to luck, Sailor Jupiter and Mercury took the first side door they found and passed as quietly as they could through it into another, shorter hallway that led to a "T" intersection, with another door to their left before it.

Sailor Jupiter turned to her and shrugged, as though to say, "Well, what now?" Mercury considered, and pointed to the door, miming taking a picture with her hands. Jupiter figured there were more security cameras directed through the intersection ahead. Mercury stuck out an arm and barred her way forward, so Jupiter let her take the lead. Her friend opened the door carefully and backed away, eyes wide behind her visor.

"Camera?" Jupiter mouthed, and grimaced when Mercury nodded yes. She knelt down and gathered energy into her palm again, this time with her left arm, as the right still felt less than recovered. Even with the result expected, she still sucked air sharply between her teeth and pushed down a low moan as her arm protested the use it had been put to, and this time Mercury noticed.

"What's wrong, Sailor Jupiter?" She asked, but Jupiter shook her head wordlessly and pointed to the door. Mercury remembered their situation, and ran in. Sailor Jupiter followed and saw her friend go straight for the camera, pulling out her little computer. In a matter of seconds, she had a panel off of the camera and a few of the wires rerouted through her computer and was typing away. Nodding in satisfaction, she carefully disconnected herself from and reassembled the camera. Then she turned to Sailor Jupiter with a look that said she wouldn't be dissuaded from her question this time.

"What happened?"

"Nothing, really. All the power I'm _not_ using has to go somewhere, and there aren't many places to put it."

Mercury's eyes widened, "You're not just using less?"

"Doesn't work that was, but it's not a problem," Jupiter insisted. "Not something I want to do often, but I'm used to dealing with electricity."

"That's right," Mercury mused, "You're not immune to the power you focus, you're just rather resistant to it. I'm sorry, I hadn't really counted on that."

"Stop that," Sailor Jupiter snapped irritably at her apologetic expression, "Instead of apologizing, how about you tell me you fixed the security system so I don't have to do it again?"

"Oh!" Mercury looked back at her modified security device, "Yes. I repaired this one and broke my way into their system. I shorted out a few other cameras, and set this one to a safe loop of old footage. The others should come back online soon, as well, so hopefully they'll just suspect some kind of freak electrical disturbance."

"That woman in the hall--"

"Will corroborate that, she got a little shock to her hand, probably had it grazing a wall. The door isn't blown off it's hinges, and there aren't scorch marks lining the halls." Mercury smiled, "In other words, none of the usual signs that the Senshi of Lightning has been through."

"Fantastic, we're in and have room to breath. Now what?"

"I don't know yet," Mercury admitted. "We can move around more safely, though. I gave myself remote access to the security system, so I can set any camera to looping footage for a minute as we walk by."

"I don't suppose you were able to do anything nifty like appropriate an electronic map of the place?"

"No such luck. We move carefully from here, and see what we can find. Discovering the source of the enemy's wealth or finding their leaders has to be our priority, otherwise we could have just called in Millennial Army to take care of this. If they find out we're here they're either going to do their best to hunt us down, disperse across the continent, or both."

Jupiter nodded. She already knew this, but Mercury was just trying to get them both focused and thinking about their objective, and she could hardly fault her that. They crept into the hallway. Sailor Mercury took the lead, being a little smaller and less conspicuous, and having a little more warning of danger from environmental data that human senses couldn't touch. It only took a few minutes of tense, hushed skulking for Jupiter to start feeling bored, though. From Mercury's posture, she could tell that her friend was a little unnerved by the inactivity around them.

"This doesn't make any sense, Sailor Jupiter." She shook her head as she closed another door after peeking within. "There's no guards, there's nobody in the sleeping quarters we found, nobody in the mess, nobody just walking around. Where _is _everybody?"

"Maybe they're, erm, taking their vacation?" Jupiter suggested, shrugging her shoulders helplessly. Mercury gave her a whithering look. "Well, you _asked_." Jupiter said defensively. Mercury chose not to reply, and they started off again, somewhat less quietly than before. As they wandered more deeply into the headquarters, of indeterminate size, however, a light murmuring started to become audible; kind of like a stiff breeze through a dense forest, thick and low-sounding. Curious and cautious once more, they started taking whichever hallways and turns that seemed to go into the direction of the sound. It became clearer as they approached until it resolved to the unmistakable buzz of chatter from a large crowd.

"Seems this would be the place," Mercury noted as they reached a pair of double-doors.

"How can you tell?"

"It says, 'meeting hall,' on it."

"Oh."

Jupiter cracked the door open, only to look into a short hallway with another set of doors at the other end. She threw the doors open wide to burn through a little bit of irritation, and she and Mercury walked quietly through and ever so quietly opened the door, freezing after there was just enough of a gap to see and being still, watching for any sign that they had been spotted. No heads turned in the direction of the door, so they slowly inched it open a little bit more until they could see the room and took up positions to see what was going on. The low stage at the front of the room was empty, and the gradually inclining tiers of seats were packed with people. Sailor Jupiter saw her friend scanning intently over the crowd.

"There are hundreds upon hundreds of people in there," Sailor Mercury whispered, "At least four, perhaps as much as six, I think. It's hard to estimate."

"I wonder if they're armed?"

"Does it matter?"

"It might, you never know."

They continued watching, not knowing what they or the audience was waiting for. They very nearly missed the point wherein that which they awaited arrived, so unassuming was the entrance. Jupiter and Mercury were busy scanning the audience, and it was only by chance that Mercury happened to look across the stage, and direct Jupiter's attention there as well. A figure was walking slowly across the thick metal floor, the soles of heavy boots drumming a steady beat, not hurried nor leisurely. It was dark in the room and dark was this man, from the jet-black hair smoothed back across his scalp and neatly trimmed on his face, to his deep, rich olive complexion. A dark cape fluttered at his heels and flowed around crisp, military-type dress. That got Jupiter's immediate attention. It was a rare man that could walk around in a cape without looking ridiculous, and he was managing it; this fellow she would keep a wary eye on.

He stopped in the center of the stage. There was no podium or any indication that it was the center, but if Jupiter were to measure end to end she would have sworn he would end up in the exact center. He stood quietly, and his audience hushed in a matter of seconds. He raised his head, and though he must have been at least fifty paces away, when his face swept over the crowd and seemed to stop for just a moment, pointed in their direction, Sailor Jupiter felt like she could see every line and shadow on his face, and couldn't help a release of adrenaline squeezing an icy fist around her stomach; those deep, inky black eyes seemed like they knew everything about her, and they were indelibly amused with her efforts. She shook her head, wondering why on earth she would think such a thing, and her eyes found Mercury's. Her friend nodded, troubled, and Jupiter knew she'd had the same, inexplicable reaction.

They looked back into the chamber, and thankfully he kept his eyes straight forward. Then he began to speak in a rich, mellifluous tone. Jupiter's breath caught in her throat for a moment; there was a lilting, musical quality to his voice that had nothing to do with his language, Jupiter felt it would have sounded the same whatever language he spoke in, and it was captivating. Behind him, a monstrously large projector screen slowly brightened to life, and text began crawling across the screen, in more languages than Jupiter could identify. She could see English, and Portuguese from all her time here; there was also Chinese and Korean, she was surprised to see, but not nearly so much as the Japanese right near them, so that Mercury did not have to translate for her.

"My brothers and sisters, my sons and daughters, my fathers and mothers;" He said, voice throbbing with emotion, "Well pleased am I to see all your faces this day. There are many here whom I have never had the pleasure of meeting face to face, who have only recently felt the burning desire for justice and right that all here have felt, and have only recently come into the knowledge that others share their sentiments and work for change."

_Some kind of welcoming ceremony for new recruits? _Jupiter wondered.

"In the long millenia of mankind's presence on the Earth, through our crudest tribal interactions and the conflicts of our most 'glorious,'" He said the word with distaste, and the feeling was echoed among the audience's crude laughter and other outbursts, "empires," he continued, "There has been one, and only one true law of the land. 'Might makes right.' Do I not speak truth?" He gazed out at the audience, and not a voice raised in dissent. "So right is indeed formed from might alone? Justice comes from strength at arms? We all are made equal from the power of a few? This is the history's own truth."

Now voices called out in protest, getting into the spirit of the speech. "You don't agree?" The speaker said, mocking surprise, "But what of this golden age we live in, all thanks to the glorious might of Crystal Tokyo?"

A single voice cried out, more clearly than the rest. Jupiter couldn't understand the language, but knew that it wasn't Portuguese, or even Latin-based. Even so, the speaker answered. "You say that you've seen no gold in your homeland, though your life stretches back before the time of our Silver Millennium? Is this true for more of you, are your homelands too, untouched by the supposed richness of this golden age?" The audience called out seemingly as one, in firm agreement.

"I'm not surprised. The world has never been right, for that folly of history. Yet here we see it repeat. Who rules the Silver Millennium? Did the people rise as one and select the most intelligent, most capable, most caring and sympathetic of the people to rule?"

Negation roared through the chamber.

"No!" He shouted along with them, the tone of his voice refusing descriptors of harshness and maintaining a purity that poured like honey into one's ears. "He and she that were selected were the strongest, the most powerful. Then, indeed, it's not even them. We've seen this stone they seem to guard jealously, their Silver Crystal. Therein lays their power, their legitimacy; not even from any virtue or power of their own, but from that which they possess. AS if that was not enough to convince you, who surrounds our so-called Queen at all hours?"

The roar of hundreds of voices roared through the confines of the hall, and though the accents and languages were many, the word came through,

"Senshi!"

"Yes! A small group of young upstarts who also share in some ineffable power. These girls would have you believe them heroes, but all they are is oppressors! Stormtroopers! A tiny bunch of individual egos who, by their mysterious and fearsome powers, have dominated the Earth that belongs to us all under the guise of 'peace' and 'prosperity.' And yet, as you have said here this day, this prosperity seems to be conspicuously absent from us. Ah, but what about peace? This one is easy to answer, how peaceful are all of you feeling at the moment?"

Though she certainly expected it at this point, Jupiter felt her heart fall slightly at the furious, bloodthirsty agreement of the crowd in response to all of the vicious slander he'd just slathered all over her loved ones.

"Excellent! We know our enemies. We, who come from so many places all over the world. I see here Brazilians and Colombians and Koreans and Americans and Mexicans and Germans and Russians..." his voice, powerful thought it was, was still not amplified and fell under the increasing yells of recognition. His lips continued moving regardless, and text continued scrolling on the screen, in some apparent recognition of all the nationalities of those present, including Japan.

"We can throw off the yolk of these Crystal Tokian oppressors." Jupiter looked at the strange word with raised eyebrow. He was probably trying to avoid saying "Japanese" or anything that might alienate his allies, but Sailor Jupiter thought that "Tokian" looked rather funny, personally. The audience took it seriously enough, though. "We know _our_ lands! We can fight on _our _lands better than they can. We will throw away the invaders, and when we can proudly raise hour heads and say, 'This is _my _country,' when standing upon our soil, then we bring the fight to _their _home. Crystal Tokyo is correct about one thing; the riches of the Silver Millennium are for us all, but if they will not give it freely as a just party would, we will take it, and it be firmly in our right to do so!"

For the duration of his speech he almost seemed to grow, becoming more present and powerful as he went, but now he lowered his head and his cape draped around his shoulders, obscuring the majority of his body in black and shadow. He soaked in the adoration of his people, and it was only at this point that Sailor Jupiter realized that, though he started with talk of meeting newcomers, he had not even said his name. This was all about those he addressed, and he'd done it so skillfully that they hadn't even noticed. She assumed that some here must know the name of their leader, it would be ridiculous to go about unidentified as a leader, but it was an impressive oratorical display nonetheless. The audience quieted, and he raised his head once more.

"It will begin here. Thanks to recent actions on our part, Crystal Tokyo has become aware of our existence. As you might imagine, they are... concerned, that somebody would be so bold as to challenge their power. And even so, they underestimate us!" Though he spoke with the same air of command as before, there was some uncertain muttering in the audience from the many who had no idea of what he spoke. Sailor Jupiter felt her stomach slowly tying itself into a knot, though, and tried to convince herself that it couldn't really happen like this. Not like some suspenseful television drama.

"They think us so insignificant that they need not armies nor military might to bring us down. What weapon does our enemy have that they put such faith in? You said it before, all of you, as one tongue. The senshi. The senshi have been sent to destroy us." There was a collective gasp in the audience; whatever their enthusiasm the moment before the exploits of the senshi had become rather legendary. "Two of them, in fact. This is all our enemy believes us to be worth, the casual errand of a pair of their soldiers. I say we show them better. I say that these two guests will learn our worth."

The audience began to muster its courage again, faces looked to the side and behind, finding security in their fellows. A few tentative affirmatives called out, swelling to a good din of agreement and fading away.

"Then look behind you now, for our guests are here."

To Sailor Jupiter's horror, the doors swung open of their own accord, revealing she and Mercury knelt in the hallway, blinking like deer caught in headlights.

"Welcome, friends," the man spoke in fluent Japanese, "Class is now in session."


	9. Chapter 9

There was a breathless pause, able to be described so as Sailor Jupiter couldn't hear a single breath in the meeting chamber. There was only a long, slow shuffling of hundreds of uniformed rears twisting about on cheap, vinyl-upholstered chairs. Some blinked vaguely in the senshi's direction, taking a while to process this turn of events even with their leaders dramatic declaration. Some other, quicker individuals broke the silence with startled curses, jumping from their seats. Though it would embarrass her to admit it later, Jupiter fell closer to the former, gaping out at the sudden exposure that had been thrust upon her and her companion. Thankfully for the both of them and their loved ones back home, Sailor Mercury was quicker on the uptake. Not bothering to even shout a warning to Jupiter behind her, she thrust her legs straight and launched them both backwards. One of the first and most important lessons Sailor Jupiter had learned in all her training was how to take a fall, so it was the work of a moment for her to land softly and roll to a kneel, her partner's actions startling her from her stunned countenance. Sailor Mercury's strategy became readily apparent as a pair of shaky bullets fired from surprised hands struck the walls in the short hallway.

"Run!" Mercury shouted, already scrambling to her feet. Jupiter didn't have to be told twice. They paused at the other set of doors to shut them, Mercury sealing them with a spray of thick ice to buy them time. There was no opportunity to do so from the other exits from the chamber, however, and they could hear heavy, booted footsteps dashing around, and see a few of the quicker ones spilling out another doorway within view.

"You remember the way?" Jupiter asked as they sprinted back the way they had come.

"Yes, follow me," Mercury replied shortly, a dark look on her face. As they retraced their steps, Sailor Jupiter's mind whirled with the sudden reversal of fortune. He had _known_. They had been expected. More than that, they had been _welcomed_. Led into a trap. It was as though she could see fate pointing its finger at her with a self-satisfied little smirk. Mercury stopped with a startled--though quite mild and unoffensive--oath, and Jupiter heard fate laugh aloud.

"Wha--"

"Listen!" Sailor Mercury said sharply. Jupiter did listen. She bit the inside of her cheek, hearing more heavy running, but in corridors leading _opposite_ of the audience chamber. They were being closed in.

"Well?"

"This way." Jupiter watched Sailor Mercury dash off a side corridor and bit down desire to ask her to explain more. Beating down misgivings with trust, she followed her friend. Their boots and panting breath sounded unnaturally loud in the metallic corridors, and made it hard for a strained ear to pick up the sounds of pursuit.

"There's only the one entrance," Mercury said. Sailor Jupiter didn't have to ask the significance of that information.

"So what do we do?"

"We have to get through them, somehow."

Jupiter nodded. She had been hoping it wouldn't come to that, enemies or no. If ever there was a plan that Jupiter could say played to her strengths, however, this was it. Her arms and body felt better, too, given their light rest. She flexed her fingers and elbows as she ran, and decided that the soreness in them was nothing she couldn't work past.

"If I remember the layout of our path correctly, the best place for them to set up a block would be at the end of the hallway coming up to our left. There are other ways to get to the entrance hall, but they would take too long to get too. We'd have to fight our way there, through the people we've left behind, just to reach another detachment blocking the path anyway."

"Got it," Jupiter acknowledged tersely. Different scenarios played through her mind, various ways in which she could neutralize the approaching threat. She couldn't think of too many options left to her that wouldn't be very, very unpleasant for the people trying to capture them, but Sailor Jupiter ruthlessly suppressed her misgivings. At this point, their own safety was most important. And Sailor Mercury's safety was the priority, she added silently. They approached the turn cautiously. Jupiter had been ready to run out and take them by surprise at full speed, but when Mercury slowed to a jog, Jupiter followed suit, until they walked, gulping for air by the intersection.

"Maybe we can still get through without hurting anybody too badly." A desperate somberness sparkled in Sailor Mercury's blue eyes, "Not even by accident," she added. Jupiter watched her take a deep breath and cross her hands before her chest. "We have to get through here. The entrance is a short way past. We have to make it." Mercury seemed to be steeling herself for something, and her friend felt her stomach sink. Before she could so much as ask what Mercury planned, however, the Senshi of Intelligence leaped out into plain sight and released the attack she'd been preparing.

"Shabon Spray!" Cascading before her was one of the more powerful examples of this attack Jupiter had seen her use before, jetting from between her extended arms like pressured steam from a ruptured pipe. Coming the other way, however, were the sounds of gunfire and the heavy, horrible sounds of metal striking metal behind the exposed senshi.

"Mercury!" Jupiter left thought behind this time, and jumped forward. tackling her friend around the waist and rolling them around the other corner. "What the _hell _do you think you're doing?" Sailor Jupiter snarled, fear infusing her words with more ire than she meant. Her friend turned to her with relief stark in her face, raising a hand that trembled slightly to grasp Jupiter's arm.

"I'm still alive, then," she noted, swallowing. "That's good." Sailor Jupiter could scarcely believe her ears.

"What's that supposed to mean? When did you suddenly get a death wish?"

"I have no such thing!" Mercury said, taken aback at the accusation. "But I don't want to hurt anybody." Jupiter took a deep breath and steadied herself, resting her head on one hand.

"That's all well and good, Sailor Mercury, but it's _not_ a good enough reason for me to go back alone. I'll personally take down each and every one of them before I let them touch a hair on your head." She growled.

"Jupiter, you can't mean that!" Mercury shoved herself up into a crouching position, looking fiercely into her friend's face.

"Every word. And why not?"

"We're Sailor Senshi! Fighters of love and justice. You heard him back there, what they think of us; are you going to go prove them right, use your power to wade through them like a storm through autumn leaves? Whatever we do, we can't kill. They're _people_." Mercury said adamantly, a heart-wrenching plea underscoring her determination.

"You're a people too, if you hadn't noticed. I don't have any intention of killing, but if it's the only way to keep you alive, I will. I wouldn't be much of a fighter for love if I couldn't protect somebody I love." If I couldn't fight for the one I love most, she wanted to say. She looked hard into Mercury's eyes, softened by her declaration but still stubborn, obviously refusing to consider using overt force against their enemy. Jupiter looked worriedly over her shoulder. Mist still poured out of the hallway Mercury had filled, obscuring everything. It was unlikely that the enemy was making any kind of advance, they had to be expecting their senshi opponents to be laying in wait to wreak a terrible retribution. Nevertheless, they still needed to make their way through.

"How do you propose we get through there, then? Work that mind of yours. If you can think of something that doesn't put you at unnecessary risk, I'll still follow you." Jupiter's lip twisted savagely, after she spoke, however. Jupiter didn't want to argue with her friend, but her expression was clear indication that her previous words had been no bluff. With that knowledge sitting squarely on her shoulders, Mercury cast nervous eyes over their surroundings, trying to find something--anything, that could get them through.  
"Sailor Jupiter, how strong do you think those doors are?"

Jupiter cast an appraising eye down the hall they crouched in. "How hard to get off the hinges, or how much punishment they can take?"

"Both."

"I was hoping as much," the Senshi of Courage grinned. "This might work. Come give me a hand."

They jogged down the hall. "You think they're staying put?" Jupiter asked.

"I hope so. Chances are nobody wants to be the first to meet us. We do have a somewhat fearsome reputation around here."

"Isn't that lucky for us?"

They reached a doorway into another room.

"Aluminum." Mercury said, running a gloved hand along its surface. She turned to Jupiter and shrugged. "If it's good enough for airplanes...?"

"It's good enough for me. Chill the hinges?" Mercury did so, then they both backed up and ran, hitting it solidly with two shoulders. It snapped off cleanly and Jupiter caught it before it could fall over.

"Hmph. I'm glad this is a light metal," she grunted, hefting its weight. "Any better way to carry this around?"

"Not that I can think of, but I'll help."

Jupiter nodded glumly and they each took an end, carrying it back to the intersection. "Here's hoping," she said. "I wouldn't mind a little more smokescreen as we pass by, this things probably gonna blow some of the mist away. Mercury nodded. Holding their improvised shield--or battering ram, depending on your perspective--upright, Jupiter gripped the sides of the door and breathed a quick prayer that no shots were so unfortunate as to land on her exposed fingers. Then she ran. She hadn't expected running down a hall with a door to be very subtle, but the enemy picked up on their reappearance sooner than she might have hoped, and she started feeling shots rattling her shield within the first few steps. She also hadn't quite counted on how much those constant impacts would affect her inertia; going forward was more difficult than she might have thought. Suddenly, though, the fire stopped. Jupiter did not, and she heard a startled cry from ahead, followed by a few fearful moans. Jupiter grinned. Some things transcended language. Clearly, they weren't quite sure how they could all have missed, and were more than a little concerned at the sounds of the senshi still bearing down on them in the short hall. It was a little late for them, but fire started up again. Within seconds, however, Jupiter was among them, feeling somewhat larger, but more yielding, thuds upon the door. She felt a tightening in her throat and stomach, knowing that this was easily the most dangerous part of this ploy, now that they had enemies behind them. Plus, all the enemy needed to have done was kept a small detachment apart from the main force to give them more trouble than they really needed. Jupiter misgauged the distance to the end of the hall, easy to do given she couldn't see it, and she ran solidly into the wall. She shook a smarting hand about, the one that had been sandwiched between the door and the wall, but that was the worst of her injuries. Behind her Mercury blasted their wake with another Shabon Spray, obscuring their path again, and distracting the enemy somewhat with a cold mist driven into their eyes besides. Then her hand was in Mercury's and she was being pulled along, away from here. Towards the entrance, and freedom. A bullet winged its way against the wall just as she turned the corner, and she heard boots starting to beat on the floor again.

"They won't be as hesitant now, Mercury. Why would all-powerful senshi hit them with a door?" Jupiter noted, with a hint of accusation in her voice. She couldn't help but feel that a stronger show of force would have been much more effective, would have kept them safer, but she had said that she would follow Mercury if she didn't put herself in direct danger. Sailor Mercury didn't respond to that note in Jupiter's voice, instead saying,

"We're almost outside. We can lose them in the forest. I'll send a signal through the security system to open the door." Jupiter was surprised when she heard a hum and metallic creak, if faintly. She hadn't suspected they were quite this close. They ran through a room, cutting a corner through two paths, and of a sudden Jupiter saw a growing patch of light ahead. They were near the end of the entrance hall; Jupiter could see the side door far ahead, the one they had ducked through when first entering. The other thing she could see is that it was a rather long way to the exit. A very long, very straight way. The weighted patter of their enemies too close behind.

"Faster,' Jupiter said needlessly, though they both found themselves digging a little deeper for a final sprint after she had. The first few militiamen turned the corner. Amateurs, they began firing without taking the time to aim, sending bullets whizzing around the two senshi. It was the next group turning the corner that were more a problem, taking the time to steady their arms and breath before squeezing off their shots. Jupiter tried to calm her nerves and focus on running, knowing that if they were truly trained well they would be trying for torso shots, giving the two fleeing friends some amount of--

_Thud!_ Jupiter's eyes widened and her breath left her explosively, feeling like a burly mechanic had swung a wrench against her ribs. She stumbled, but training kept her on her feet and she forced air into her lungs, one protesting fiercely, but she forced air into it anyway.

"Jupiter!" Mercury slowed, but Sailor Jupiter was already accelerating again and roughly pushed her concerned friend forward. Inside she cursed a few times, not wasting breath on making them audible. Padded and bullet-proof their fuku might be, but by god did that _hurt_. Neither of them could take many of those, she knew now, and she wondered how long it might be until a stray shot hit somewhere unprotected, or they got wise and started aiming for such unguarded areas. Their impressive speed had them nearing the exit at a remarkable clip, but Jupiter wondered if it would be enough. As if to add weight to her concerns, she was hit again, this time in the shoulder blade. Her back throbbed and she half-turned with the impact, her feet working but unable to stay under her. She caught herself with one hand, the same side as had gotten hit, and though her entire arm ached with it she pushed herself back up and tried to prevent losing momentum. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she saw Mercury ahead of her and wondered idly if most of the enemy was focusing on her as the bigger and easier to hit target. Feeling as though she could have screamed in frustration, Jupiter saw her friend stop on the cusp of the stairway leading out, and turn back. With an odd, rolling gate brought about by the ache in her back muscles, Jupiter was almost there as well, could smell forest loam heavy in the air. She wanted to yell at Mercury to get the hell out before she got herself hurt too, that she couldn't do anything. From the way she stood posed, Jupiter got the feeling that Mercury was about to try and make yet another obscuring mist to shield their retreat, but she was never able to. Mercury was turning, her profile facing Jupiter. The Senshi of Courage could see but one of her eyes, narrowed with determination. Then amidst the occasional clang and whiz of missed shots, there came a sickening crunch, and a wet thud. That determined eye flew open, blinded by a sudden pain, and Jupiter felt sick herself, seeing a splatter of read across the stairs and a pool swiftly forming around Sailor Mercury's leg, a cascade of brilliant red boiling down terrifyingly fast from a knee that looked nothing less than ruined.

It couldn't support her weight, and Jupiter watched helplessly as her leg buckled beneath her, as she fell inevitably upon the joint and cried out in pain. The sight and sound flooded Jupiter's senses. Sailor Mercury's pained breath sounded clearly to her, the sight of her pale face, every line of it, every lock of hair strewn about it, the way her jaw was set, all of it burned into Jupiter's eyes. Even the scent of Mercury's spilled blood seemed to come unnaturally clearly to her, heavy and nauseating to contemplate. To contemplate the fact that it was Mercury's blood, _Ami's _blood, the life of her friend spilling out onto this cold bastion of their enemy. The strangely sharp, metallic tone of that scent drove a copper spike through her mind and the bright red of it washed over Jupiter's view. Her muscles filled with a strange sense of power despite the abuse they'd taken. She slowed as she approached the steps and turned in front of her dearest friend. Fearlessly she faced her enemy, heedless of the killing intent they still directed at her. She was filled to the absolute brim with a rage that she could hardly recognize, but didn't care to argue with. She embraced it, let it fill her every cavity with white-hot heat. As she felt she would inevitably burst free of her own flesh with it, she released it.

"Supreme!" Jupiter clenched her limbs, raising her hands, forcing her internal power to begin its manifestation. The rod from her tiara extended, crackling in the air. "Thunder!" Snaps of electricity whipped from her into the walls around her, desperately seeking release. They stretched between her legs, her arms, her fingers, lightning arced even between her eyelashes.

"DRAGON!" A massive being came forth from the air before her, something almost too bright too look at. It was all crackling energy and a hungry, snapping maw, with wicked claws that hooked into the walls of the heavy metal hallway, tearing through them like paper. It sped down the hallway, pulling itself along by its claws, pressing forward with movements of arcing wings that left scorch marks in the ceiling and walls. No enemy was there to see this, however. Far before it had made it even a quarter of the way towards them, they had taken a page from the books of their more frightened or wise comrades, and were fleeing.

Sailor Jupiter, the Senshi of Lightning, fell to her knees in the hallway, silent but for the horrible tearing of the elemental dragon still seeking its prey. Jupiter somehow doubted it would find what it sought, its life would likely not continue much further than the end of the passage, but she wouldn't mind terribly if one of those fools had tripped. More surprisingly, perhaps, was the lack of malice she found in herself at that thought. She felt drained, tired beyond even the spectacular display of energy she'd performed, as taxing as that could be. Even her anger seemed to have been thrown out with that creature, and now she just heaved herself back to her feet by pure willpower, no anger left to fuel her. Her heart ached as she viewed again the source of that anger, but it was only sadness and pain that filled her now. Perhaps even guilt, as Mercury seemed a little less pained now, and looked at Jupiter with something that might almost have been fear in her eyes.

"Mercury, Ami-chan..."

"There's first-aid equipment back with our packs, let's go." Sailor Mercury said. Jupiter nodded, and held out her hand. They got Mercury to her feet and Jupiter got under her arm, holding almost all of her weight. The going was slow, with her injury. She could hardly hold her leg off the ground to prevent putting weight on it, it was more just dragging along the ground, causing her obvious pain, but Mercury didn't say a word, clenching her teeth to keep from crying out for all she was worth. Jupiter remembered where they had lain in wait and headed in that direction. They hadn't taken their packs this far, though, they remained back at their most recent campsite. Once they got to the cover of the trees, Mercury signaled a stop and she slumped against a trunk, heaving for breath.

"Have... to stop... bleeding," she gasped. Jupiter had noticed the thin trail Mercury was leaving.

"Change back," Sailor Jupiter suggested. "You're clothes, we can make a tourniquet." That's what they did. A sleeve torn off of her shirt and made into strips wound its way around her upper thigh, mostly staunching the flow. She needed to get back to the campsite and get it dressed, however. Jupiter looked back apprehensively at the entrance to the enemy headquarters as well. How long until they stopped running, until somebody convinced them that they needed to go out into the forest, that they could take safety in the trees to attack? Hopefully, she thought fiercely, she'd shown them that the senshi were not to be trifled with. Perhaps none of them would want to be the first charred corpse littering the forest floor. She could hope, at least. For now, she turned her back to Ami and knelt.

"Grab on, hold onto my shoulders as tight as you can."

"You can't carry me the whole way," Ami protested weakly.

"I don't believe I asked you to argue, I believe I told you to get on. I'll try to be careful, but this won't be gentle." Ami didn't argue this time, and more fell onto Jupiter's back than climb. Jupiter felt arms wrap around her neck. Unseen to Ami, tears stung Sailor Jupiter's eyes, trickling down her cheeks. Her heart and body felt full again, but it wasn't rage this time. She wasn't sure what it was. She felt her own fatigue, and the draining aftershock of all that released rage. She felt the throbbing aches in her shoulder, and her ribs, She felt a sharpness where she only now suspected a rib might have cracked. She felt the adrenaline of their flight pumping through her blood. She felt sweat running down her face. She smelled acrid smoke wafting from behind her. And she felt Ami's arms around her, trembling with their own pain and fatigue. She heard Ami's shallow breath. She felt the cold sweat on Ami's arms, rubbing onto her jaw and cheeks. She felt all of this, and her green eyes cried. She caught her breath, however, and her voice was steady when she said, "I'm going." If Ami felt any of the tears that rolled down to touch her linked arms, she either assumed it sweat or refrained from commenting.

Sailor Jupiter broke into as swift a jogging run as she dared. Her legs burned, for she had been running for a while now. Even with all the endurance from years of training and all the inborn strength of a senshi, her legs burned. Entertaining a moment of bleak humor, she told herself that it had been a while since she'd felt this strong a fatigue in her muscles, she obviously needed to exercise harder. Ami bore the rough travel the best she could. Jupiter was tall enough that Ami had no fear of her injured limb dragging on the ground, and she tried to hold her thigh clear of Sailor Jupiter's running, both to avoid tripping up her friend and to avoid a painful kick. After what couldn't have been more than an hour but felt like days, Jupiter found their old campsite. She didn't dare bring Ami back into the brush that they'd hid themselves in, so gently eased her down against a tree and ducked inside to retrieve their belongings. When she emerged, she found Ami ashen-faced and immediately assumed the worst.

"Ami?"

"I can't..." the uninhibited fear in Ami's voice tightened Jupiter's throat, but she looked at the hand that Ami extended towards her. Clenched in a white-knuckled grasp was her Sailor Communicator, and on the screen of it was a field of static.

--

Makoto ate mechanically, Ami mirroring her. Some color had returned to Ami's face during the day, though she ruefully admitted that her injury hurt far more now that the shock had worn off. The wound had been treated with antibiotics and bandaged as well as could be done, however, Ami giving her friend very detailed instructions on how best to do it. A light painkiller helped her somewhat, as did the knowledge that, properly tended to, her injury wouldn't be fatal. That alone was a sort of psychological painkiller. Makoto's bruises were well on their way to mending as well; senshi healing was a wonderful thing. Still hurt quite a bit, of course, but her muscles had loosened and she could walk normally now, and the sharpness she had worried was a cracked rib had receded. Whether the bone had mended quickly or it had been something else, she didn't know. They had made a few movements over the course of the day, trying to put some distance from the enemy headquarters, but their progress seemed pitifully slow. They hadn't seen hide nor hair of another human since their flight. The enemy could have been thinned by spreading out, unaware of what path their quarry had taken, or they might not have put together a pursuit. Ami hadn't spoken of Makoto's actions during their escape.

They also hadn't spoken much more about the state of their communicators. Jupiter couldn't begin to hazard a guess at what was going on with them and didn't want to bother Ami about things she couldn't grasp. Ami wrestled with the problem in her mind, but nothing came of it. That both hers and Makoto's suffered from the same problem came close to ruling out damage, but her mind shuddered away from contemplating what sort of knowledge the enemy need possess to possibly jam the signal. Then again, however, that leader of theirs had seemed eerily knowledgeable. He had known about the pair of them coming, had known when they had arrived. Had planned his meeting _for _their arrival, to lure them in, to trap them. He had known exactly where they were listening in. Besides the communicators, both senshi found their thoughts being drawn to that knowledge.

When they weren't thinking about that, they were caught by gloomy contemplation of their chances of reaching civilization again. They were days away from a highway by foot, and that had been when they were hale and fresh. It was likely longer to get back there now, and Ami had to consider whether it was more efficient to try and reach the highway and trust that a friendly passerby helped them before less friendly eyes, or cut through the forest for a straighter line to town. In the end, she decided on the highway. Not that it made much difference to their mood right now, weeks in the rainforest was weeks in the rainforest, wherever their destination.

With how they had patched Ami's leg, it was held slightly bent, so that she could walk, supported on Makoto, and keep her leg from dragging. This was how they passed their days for now, walking at their snail-like pace and settling in for frequent breaks and meals. Their rations were also becoming more of a worry. They had planned on being able to call in support after emerging, rather than having to hike back to a city or highway, and their slower pace meant they got less distance from each meal in any case. Deciding to be conservative now before it became a problem, their mood still wasn't helped by being a bit hungrier than either was comfortable with. Ami joked that she needed to diet anyway, after years of American food, but the humor was strained.

--

A black rage filled the empty place in his chest, and somewhere he wondered about that. His dark eyes viewed those under his command with contempt, and he wondered about that. He remembered clearly a pride in his leadership, in his troops. A pride in knowing that he worked for a better tomorrow, but right now all that consumed him was a desire for pain, and death. A desire for the blood of his enemies. His troops balked at moving. They feared the power that had been unleashed; hearing of the authoritarian senshi's unnatural powers was one thing, being on the receiving end of them was another. Their confidence had been foolishly high when they had faced only ice and mist, only to be demolished when a creature of thunder and hunger and death had pursued them down the halls of their own base, screeching its rage and scoring their stronghold. They feared to face that again, no matter all the powers of persuasion and patriotism that he tried to lever on their souls. Gradually in his dark mind he perceived what must then be done. He cursed dark oaths, having wanted to keep this secret a while more, but for the sake of hunting his prey, and for restoring his people's faith in their own ability to wage war on the senshi and win, he must unleash this power. His followers he gathered once more, they shocked and guilty, he hiding his dark, smoldering anger underneath a mask of remorse.

"I underestimated the evil works of our accursed enemy, my friends. I take all the responsibility for your hurts, for your fears. I knew not what I sent you into, what depraved lows these so-called defenders of justice would sink to in their own souls to further their dark works. I had, on some occasion in the past, sought information about our enemy, though in the hopes I would never have to use it. I had hoped that our stalwart efforts would be enough to vanquish our foes, our strong hearts, but even the will of the bravest and truest cannot always stand against the gates of hell. So I delve back into the histories of our enemies. In all their efforts to bring the world under their control, there was always something that even the senshi feared, and had trouble vanquishing. Whatever their own agenda in those times--the histories of our 'benevolent' Crystal Tokian government would have us believe them evil, but can we trust the serpent to speak of evil?--the only force that ever could stand on equal footing against these Sailor Senshi were those known as 'Youma.' I sought information on these creatures, these Youma, but all were supposedly threats from outside our dimension, or outside our world. Whatever the veracity of this, it remained that no trace of them could be found on the earth. However, that did not stop my efforts. In the science that the new world order has funded have come remarkable advancements. These advancements, when coupled with the brilliant minds and true hearts of men of science, allied with us, have resulted in the most remarkable of innovations. No longer are Youma the things of the histories, instead they are creatures of our own make, under my own command, armed with the power to defend us against the senshi. Not only defend, but to eventually strike back! To reach a powerful hand into the heart of our enemy and jerk it out, and allow the stolen life of the Silver Millennium to flow back into our homelands. My people, I present to you the future nature of our conflict! Now, might we show our enemy that their unnatural power is no match for the genius and spirit of our hearts. Even as we speak, the first of our Youma goes through the forest on the fleetest of feet, tracking our enemy with the sharpest of sense. In what should be no more than a matter of a day should he return, carrying with him the evidence of his victory. We shall send to the Crystal Palace itself the ostentatious ornaments of their crowns, the symbols of authority, and in so shall we make them know fear."

A small smile stretched mirthlessly across his lips. A little crude, perhaps, but based on the reactions of the puppets before him, this declaration would work well enough. Still, that he might have had more time to craft more stirring words... it was all a matter of style, really, but the successful escape of those two meddlers had not been according to plan. One couldn't always maintain their poise when surprised, and surprised he had been. The one, the one whose every movement radiated with strength, she who was supposed to represent the fifth planet in this solar system, she had surprised the most. Such power she had unleashed; surely he had known about it inside her, seen the potential, but never in his own impressive understanding had it occurred to him that she might use it.

It was of no matter. Perhaps his hand had been forced early, but none would know it. His face, his motives, his intentions were all still an inky-black enigma to his enemies, and the odds were in his favor. His irritation would be cleared enough with her strong blood spilling onto the soil of his homeland, bringing this country the strength to stand up for justice.

--

Their journey continued, slowly but surely. They both began breathed easier as no sign of pursuit evidenced itself, but there was plenty more to worry about in the meantime. Makoto's chief concern remained Ami's condition. Whenever she asked, Ami would claim she was fine, but Makoto could easily see the strain of travel in her. She'd sustained a serious injury and lost quite a bit of blood, she was on short ration, and she was being forced to exertion every day. After one particularly long and heated argument, she'd convinced Ami to take a larger portion of food and cut her own. Ami had refused stubbornly, right up until Makoto said she would cut her own share anyway, and throw what she didn't eat out into the jungle. It was a rash, irrational, emotional decision--and one she might not have been able to keep when she got hungry--but the argument served its purpose, convincing her intelligent friend that she didn't have a choice.

Some nights, too, they heard the sounds of unfamiliar animals. A strangled howl, a guttural roar, a jagged shriek; all sounded almost, but not quite, like the sounds of animals they knew well. Makoto wasn't one to assume she knew the cries of all the animals in the world, but Ami seemed especially troubled by these, insisting that there was nothing in this land that should be making a noise like that. Perhaps not in all the world, she would sometimes add, but Makoto just nodded, privately allowing Ami some degree of paranoia, after what they'd gone through. She might have been concerned about being attacked by a jaguar with a sore throat, but she wasn't going to start creating ghouls and monsters from nothing. Occasionally she would give thought to her own past, where such creatures had been the subject of her daily life, but that part of her history was gone; her enemies had been humans this time, nothing more, and the monsters could stay in the past where they belonged.

Unfortunately for her, the next day showed that she would have to turn more attention to this unknown creature. Previously they had only heard the strange cries in the night, when their blood would run most cold at the unearthly noise. The sun shone bright overhead now, however, likely only slightly past noon by her reckoning, and they heard it, this time with less a howl and more a screech, ending in a rough, clipped fashion, almost like a cough. It also sounded very close, though without knowing how loud it actually was they couldn't say how close. Makoto's heart thumped loudly in her chest, and she wondered if Ami's did as well. Her steps slowed, until they stood in the jungle. Ami took a moment to lean against a nearby tree.

"Mako-chan?" She asked.

"I think I'm going to transform," Makoto stated, eyes scanning her surroundings. "I don't want to worry about doing it later."

They continued after that, Sailor Jupiter feeling a little more steady now. She still kept a wary eye on her surroundings, and she often caught herself shaping her hands to the proper form for calling an attack. In one bizarre moment of irreverence, she caught herself wondering how well electricity cooked things, and how well jaguar tasted. The pangs in her stomach, meager lunch bare hours before but long forgotten, may have had something to do with that train of thought. It helped her pass the time though, until the cry came again. There was no ambiguity about it this time, it was close. She gently disengaged herself from Ami and faced the forest in the direction the scream had come. Within seconds, she heard an irregular thumping.

_BUMP...BUMP-bump, BUMP...BUMP-bump, BUMP...BUMP-crunch, BUMP...BUMP-bump._

It came closer, and Sailor Jupiter's muscles tensed. This was not the gentle, padding stalk of a big cat, or the regular beat of booted feet. She had no idea what this was. It seemed to sway and jerk around as well, so that whenever she thought she had pinpointed the sound, and could watch the forest for its appearance, it would shift to the side and she would adjust her stance, feeling a spike of worry in her stomach, hoping that this enemy wouldn't burst out at her in a split-second of adjustment. She thought she spotted it, a hulking shadow, a brush of moment in the foliage, and followed it with her eyes as it made a jump to the side. She understood the occasional crunches in its gate, seeing bark fly from a tree. It was still mostly obscured in the brush, but she saw a hulking form with a shaggy coat of dark fur that almost seemed to shine with a purplish undertone in the sunlight. Ask questions later, she thought.

"Supreme Thun--" the call died on her lips as a horrific, deafening cracking, tearing sound erupted in the forest and a tree seemed to stand up and fly in her direction. She tried to dodge, but the bulk of it caught her across the shoulder and side and knocked her down, rolling across the forest floor until some thick brush provided her a gentle stop. Shaking her head once and calling on all the luck in the world, she levered herself up and looked back where she'd come. Ami had gotten herself out of the way, and was looking wildly over at her, to make sure she was okay.

"Mercury Cry--" Ami got no further than had Sailor Jupiter. Jupiter watched in horror as the full bulk of their enemy loomed behind Ami, as a massive, five-clawed hand gripped itself around her upper body, the tips of huge, yellowed nails almost touching, fingers wrapped all the way around both of her shoulders. Up, she was lifted, and then down she was driven, into the hard, unyielding earth. The monster let go, and she lay still, but that wasn't enough for it. Up the huge limb raised again, claws looking almost hungry, already tasting blood.

"Supreme Thunder!" A wicked bolt of lightning erupted from Sailor Jupiter now, arcing from the lightning rod on her tiara to blast the creature squarely in its unprotected chest. However, it did no more than straighten in some measure of surprise, the electricity diffusing across its fur. It paused to regard this other creature it had not considered a threat, and Sailor Jupiter got her first good look at it.

It's legs were ridiculously long, coiled with thick, ropy muscle and tendons_. _They bent back on themselves at the knee like a frogs until they were almost doubled in on themselves, and the creatures pelvis hung barely a foot above the ground. They ended in feet like a cats, seeming to be on tip-toes, but the claws that ended the toes were more like a dogs or bears, always extended and seeming worn with use, though still large enough to be a dangerous threat. The upper body that was supported on this frame was remarkably human, but for the thick coat of purplish fur covering it. They were the the narrow waist and broad shoulders of a remarkably fit human male, with stomach and chest muscles ripping just where they would on a person. The arms, too, were human-like, though much longer, the wickedly curving claws turning in about where the creatures pelvis was. Any insignificant semblance to humanity stopped very abruptly at the head, however. A savage canine muzzle wrinkled in a throaty growl was affixed to a more feline face, striped with jet-black fur over the deep purple that covered the rest of it. It's eyes were bright, acidic green streaked with a more sickly yellow, with narrow slitted pupils like a cats, or a snakes. Ears flapped up and down a few times, the interior a gentle pink that seemed out of place on this monster, but they came to rest flattened on its head, the ear canals closed. Jupiter couldn't say what that was for.

Its chest filled and emptied like a bellows as it consumed massive amounts of air. In fact, Sailor Jupiter thought it was breathing unusually hard, unless it had somehow run to them from far away and been so foolish as to run out and attack. Most earthly creatures knew better than that, but who was to say what this monster could, or would, do? To highlight that thought, it suddenly emitted a grotesque sucking noise, and a cloud of smoke--no, steam, shot out from its back, and it suddenly seemed to breath easier. Jupiter gulped. This thing was very alien, and it was standing over her dearest one, and she was alone. Fortunately, in a way, it seemed to forget the prey it had had a moment before, and stepped right over Ami, walking with a peculiar grace with its awkward legs. The thing stood about a foot over Jupiter already, with its legs folded, and about four times her width. She wondered that it didn't extend its legs, but perhaps they were only for jumping or swifter travel. Perhaps that would help keep it from bringing those to bear as weapons, she hoped, but she wasn't about to place any faith in that theory. Its eyes regarded her with nothing approaching intelligence, but they did shine with a purely animalistic cunning. Sailor Jupiter thought for a moment. Lightning had obviously been useless, but that wasn't all she could bring to bear in a situation.

"Jupiter Oa--" It's eyes widened hugely as she began her cry, and its legs fired unreasonably fast. There was no _way _something so huge could be fired off like that, but the evidence of it flew towards her faster than she had time to think. Not faster, however, than she had time to react. She ducked beneath its reaching, grasping claws. She turned to face it and saw it with its claws dug into a tree to stop it. She had no opportunity to try her attack again, as it came on her quickly. Quite obviously, however, she was no slouch when it came to physical blows either. She quickly ascertained that it was monstrously strong, as its frame might have suggested, and possessed inhuman speed. Well, it wasn't human after all. That much was glaringly obvious as her bare flesh contacted its fur, which was oddly rubbery. Might even have been some sort of organic rubber, giving it that frustrating immunity to her electrical powers.

The Senshi of Courage could hardly be called weak or slow, but she admitted that she was outclassed, twisting around and knocking away the monsters thrusting arms and grasping claw-hands. As she gazed into its increasingly frustrated, enraged eyes, she began to realize the only thing keeping her alive. Years of training had done more than given her a fit body, it had also shown her exactly how to use it. She knew just how far to move, just how much force to apply, to how far to extend herself to do what she needed. This creature was _clumsy_, she marveled. It was so fast that it hardly mattered, but her experienced eye could see that it was expending far too much effort and putting itself out too far for what it needed to do.

Even so, she was hard-pressed defending herself. It was all well and good knowing what was keeping her alive, but if that's all it was doing, she was hardly helped. As the fight progressed, she found herself giving ground more and more rapidly. She tired, and the monstrous force behind even blocked blows were enough to send her reeling. She thought it might be getting tired as well, as it started breathing hard, but once again that squelching sound came from its back and steam billowed out of it, and it came back on her with renewed fervor. Jupiter wracked what part of her brain wasn't focused on surviving to the problem of how to win.

"Shine Aqua Illusion!" A rush of sparkling water burst from the side to contact the creature, literally freezing it in its assault. Sailor Jupiter watched as ice crawled over its shoulder and part of its chest, trapping the leg of the same side with it. The creature howled in frustration. Before Jupiter could even begin to consider how she could take advantage of the situation, however, the ice shattered with a massive, combined flexing of its limb muscles. Quick as a whip, it snatched a larger chunk of the ice out of the air and flung it contemptuously to its source, Sailor Mercury who had somehow managed to transform and try to get in on the fight, injury or no. The chunk, about the size of a doubled fist, hit her on her collar bone and she fell back, panting. It seemed the creature might forget its issue with Jupiter and switch focus again, but as it turned its back to her Jupiter took her chance and aimed a kick with all the strength she could muster at its exposed back. It howled, though whether in anger or pain Jupiter did not know, and turned back to her again, lashing out with a strong arm faster than Jupiter could hope to react this time. Jagged, razor claws sunk their way into her shoulder and the arm tried to drive its way down, seeking her heart. She put her arms up to stop its search, and with force of sheer, desperate will she tore the claws from her flesh.

"Sh-shabon... Spray!" Sailor Mercury cried weakly, again, and a finely focused stream of chilled, moist mist jetted straight at the monster, rather than spreading out in an obscuring screen. Tiny flakes of frost in the stream melted instantly against body-heated fur, and the creature was coated in wetness. Bewildered, the creature nonetheless turned to Mercury again, its current enemy forgotten once more in its mind.

"Jupiter, lightning, now!"

The creature stepped in seemingly casual form towards Ami again, heedless of the danger it had been put into. For all Jupiter knew, it _hadn't _been put into danger, and this wouldn't be any more effective than it had been last time. Ami was taking this, "I trust you" thing a little too far, Jupiter thought. But trust Ami she did, and her mind shuddered to think what would happen if this didn't work. The monster would make short work of her after this, and be free to pursue its torment of Ami at its leisure. Panting, and with blood welling from three deep tears in her chest, she raised her hands again.

"My guardian, Jupiter! Brew a storm! Call the clouds!" Overhead, clouds coalesced, darkening, combining their stores of rain. Thunder rumbled over the horizon. The monster, an quizzical, curious look on its face, turned its head upward to view this surely unnatural sudden change in its environment. "Bring down the lightning!" Lightning flickered among the thick, rolling clouds that now moved overhead, and a few stray pieces even came down nearby, falling unseen from where they stood. Hot thunder crashed all around from these stray bolts, and the creature actually let out a whimper at these noises, it appeared even this creature knew the dangers of nature itself.

"Supreme Thunder!" From above came a lightning bolt so large it dwarfed those other strays, and it came down right on top of the creature, bathing it in blue-white light. Sailor Jupiter watched, and saw electricity coursing over it, making a path through the conductive water coating it from Mercury's attack. The power had hardly anywhere to damage, as it was still coated in its unusual rubbery fur, but in seconds she saw smoke start to curl from around its nostrils, and ears, and the corners of its eyes. It thrashed about, Jupiter backing up a few careful steps, and she saw heavier smoke billowing from parts on its back which spasmed, six organic chambers opening and closing along it. Then the lightning was gone, though the creature was still not yet dead. Slowly, laboriously, it flailed about, screaming its hurt to the countryside. Thin smoke still curled from the same areas, vulnerable mucus membranes and entrances to its insides, and Jupiter wondered how invasive her attack had been. Whatever the state of the inside of the creature, though, it was still dangerous, and Jupiter could hardly stand to watch it stumble about in its suffering. She gulped with a dry throat, steeling herself for one last attack, and then she could rest.

"Jupiter Oak Evolution!" She twirled about and bright green leaves materialized from her, whirling towards the monster. They struck it, one after the other, heavy, exploding impacts that no natural creature could hope to withstand for long, and this creature appeared natural enough for that. The rain of hammer blows against it stopped, and it whimpered one last time, taking an unsteady step that ended with it toppling to the side. It lay on its front, one claw futilely sinking into the ground as it tried to crawl forward, or push itself up, or something. It breathed once, twice, and a third time, before the last exhaled, rattling from its lungs, and it moved no more. Jupiter slumped down, staring stupidly at the red stain spreading down her side, while somebody called to her, but that person sounded so far away.

_"Sorry for the long wait, ya'll! I lost my mojos for a little while and this terribly blank document called "Chapter 9" just sat there in my folder looking sad. But, then they came back all of a sudden! Two nights (and more than a few new musical albums) later, and I got something to give you!"_


	10. Chapter 10

"Mako-chan? Mako-chan!" Sailor Mercury bit back curses and tears and rose unsteadily, hobbling to her fallen backpack. Jupiter stared blankly after her, limbs and mind feeling leaden. She shivered, though she somehow felt oddly warm, one side of her even hot. Her eyelids began to feel heavy, and she couldn't think of any reason to keep them open, why not take a little well-earned rest? She could barely recall what she had done to earn it, but it felt connected to the rank scent of burned flesh in her nose. Burning a meal hardly seemed to earn her anything, though, how odd... As she tried to slip into that rest she so desired, however, she felt herself being shaken by her shoulders.

"Mako-chan, stay with me. You have to try and help me a little bit," a voice urged her. "Change back, I can't work with this in the way."

Sailor Jupiter felt a sharp pain. She looked down irritably, and saw Sailor Mercury--oh, Sailor Mercury was here? How nice, just the person she liked to be with, but why was she crawling around? In fact, why were either of them on the ground?--pressing a wad of cloth against her chest, and it was turning a deep red where she pressed. Jupiter wondered why that might be.

Despairing of reaching her friend easily, Mercury reached into her bag again and brought out a little bottle. Sailor Jupiter didn't feel thirsty, but thought it was nice that her friend was being so generous--until she popped the top off of the bottle and held it under her nose. The sharpest, most invasive odor she'd ever had the misfortune of breathing shot up her nose like twin javelins and she backed away, coughing and sputtering and tears jumping unbidden to the corners of her eyes. The smelling salts, for that's what they were, _did _clear her mind as they were meant to, however. Shaking her head to clear the last few dregs of fog from her head, a number of recent memories came flooding out like the blood she remembered was pouring out of her.

"Change back!" Mercury ordered again. No sooner had her wind-ruffled khakis settled into place, red-splotched-white gloves ripped it open, a number of buttons popping off. Mercury lifted Makoto's arms and reached behind her as well, Makoto staying as still as she could to keep from interfering. When Mercury's fingers started working at her bra clasp, however, she let out a yelp and tried to lower her arms in a sudden, ridiculous upwelling of embarrassment.

"This is no time for modesty!" Mercury said sharply, and Makoto stopped, flushing. Mercury quickly stripped her upper body and stared for a split-second in consternation at the deep, jagged tears in Makoto's flesh. Makoto herself winced at the sight: three lines of ruin scored her from the socket of the shoulder down nearly to her sternum. Makoto looked at the open worry in Mercury's face, and felt even more afraid. With all Ami knew of medicine, for _her_ to make a face like that couldn't be good.

"Punctures can be some of the most dangerous injuries, very prone to infection." Sailor Mercury said in a detached voice, clinically. It hardly sounded as if she were actually talking to Makoto. "If these had just been superficial flesh wounds this wouldn't be nearly so worrisome, I would staunch the bleeding and stitch them shut."

It dawned on Makoto that she was likely doing this to calm her own nerves. Makoto recalled hearing that doctors often ethically barred themselves from operating on close family or loved ones, and wondered if this was Mercury's way of detaching herself from the situation. Makoto watched her pull out her medical kit, selecting two bottles of liquid.

"Antibiotics and a coagulant agent." Mercury carefully applied the contents of one bottle to her wounds, then opened a small package and pulled out a sterilized cloth, using it to clean the wounds and apply antibiotics. Makoto's breath hissed between clenched teeth as her friend started that part, and she saw Mercury's arms stop and tremble slightly. Blue eyes closed for a moment, and her throat bobbed up and down slightly in a gulp, then she was calm again. She withdrew her hands gently, and took out another container.

"Painkillers. Open, swallow," she said shortly. She had to look at Makoto's face for this, but she kept her eyes averted just slightly to the side, refusing to look directly into Makoto's own eyes. Makoto accepted the pill, and took a grateful swig from the canteen held to her lips. "Can only give a patient with this much blood loss one pill, and it will take a little while to go into effect. Bear with me for a little while." Makoto nodded, and gritted her teeth as Ami finished. It was an odd sight for her, now. The wounds still splayed nauseatingly open, but the coagulant slowed the blood loss to a tiny stream that Mercury could easily stop with a towel.

"Ma... Makoto." Mercury said hesitatingly. Makoto's eyes looked at her seriously now, hearing the tone in her voice. She saw the signs of Mercury's own fatigue and wondered at how steadily she had been working. "Can you hold this here for a moment, are you strong enough?" In answer, Makoto lifted her undamaged arm and brought it up to put pressure onto the towel. Sailor Mercury nodded gratefully and leaned back on her arms. Seeing suppressed pain flicker across her friends features, Makoto was quickly reminded that she was not the only one who'd come out worse for the wear from their encounter. Again she saw Mercury being hoisted in the air by a massive claw and slammed mercilessly into the ground. She looked over her, and saw that the bandage around her knee was stained a dark red again, obviously opened from her exertions. A sleeve of khaki slid into place around that knee, and it was Ami in all her mundane beauty that sat on the forest floor.

"Ami-chan, are you okay?" Makoto felt a momentary rise of irritation with her friend. "Take care of yourself for a minute, damn it!"

"In a second," she breathed. "You're in the most danger right now."

"Not if a rib is gonna puncture your lung, I'm not! What did that impact do to you?"

"Ah, that? That wasn't much. It held me wrapped in that claw the whole time, it probably hurt its hand more than it hurt me. I banged my head on the ground, but there's not much I can do about a concussion right now. At least I'm conscious."

Makoto eyed her suspiciously, sure that she was downplaying her own injuries. "What about that piece of ice that hit you, or your leg?" She asked pointedly.

"If my collar bone is broken there's no way I can set it here, and I'm not debilitated by pain. My knee can't get any worse, honestly. It's bandaged, so I won't bleed much. Right now I just need to rest for a second, and stitch up those cuts of yours."

Makoto frowned, something about that notion bothering her. Looking at Ami's knee, it came to her.

"Stitches? What happens after that, wouldn't I have to rest and let them heal so I don't open them again?" Blue eyes blinked at her in surprise.

"Yes, you would. Why?"

"We don't have time for that! We have to keep going. Even if we're not being pursued, we won't make it out of here for months if I can't _move_! If nothing else gets us, like these damn bugs--" Makoto took a moment to swat at insects that had started making their way up her body, bored at merely investigating her blood-stained clothes and starting to congregate around her. Changing back from Sailor Jupiter had helped keep a swarm from forming as quickly, but that wouldn't last much longer. "--we'll run out of food, at least."

"Do you have a better idea?" Ami demanded.

"What about cauterization? Burn them closed. What do you say to that, doc?" At the suggestion, her friend's ashen face darkened angrily.

"Absolutely not!"

"Would it work?"

"Stop being an idiot," came the snapped reply. "I'll stitch you up and wrap a bandage around with some of the coagulant agent. You won't bleed, much, but you're going to take it easy. We're not going anywhere today--except maybe away from that monster, no need to camp next to _that_--and that's doctors final say on that."

Makoto fell silent with a slight flush.

"Congratulations for being big and strong girl that can burn her wounds closed, Mako-chan, but I think I can do better by you." A little smile grew on Ami's features. "I think I'd prefer some Mako-sashimi over some Mako-barbecue."

A short laugh burst from her lips at Ami's declaration, but she raised an eyebrow. "You're not planning to slice me up even _more _then, are you?"

Ami's laugh echoed hers. With a welling of strength, Ami sat up and looked as though she would clasp Makoto into an embrace. She stopped short, however, to Makoto simultaneous disappointment and relief. A hug might have been nice, but she wasn't in a condition to enjoy it much. With the thought of an embrace, Makoto was also suddenly, vividly aware of her state of undress. She looked up, flushing slightly, and was only more embarrassed to see Ami starting directly at her.

"Time to get to work, then."

It was a surprisingly gentle operation, she was grateful to discover. The painkiller helped a bit, and Ami was swift and rock-steady with her needle, stitching up the wounds efficiently. After that was done, she made an awkward bandage wrap around Makoto's chest and over one shoulder, covering the wounds and holding the anointed gauze padding in place, as well as giving her some modesty back. Just when she thought it was all done, however, Ami suddenly reached out with both hands and grabbed hold of her breasts.

"Ami-chan!"

Ignoring her, Ami bobbled them around a little bit, then let go with a satisfied smile on her face.

"Good. I don't think the bandages will shift because of your breasts moving." She looked innocently into Makoto's scandalized expression. "Well? It's not _my _fault that they grew so much, and how silly would you feel if bouncing boobs made your bandages fall off while you're walking?"

Makoto opened her mouth to reply, then thought better of it. "Thanks, Ami-chan," she sighed.

"You're welcome. So, have you been keeping track?"

"Of what?"

"Who's saved who more times now?"

"You're supposed to be the one that's good with numbers, Ami-chan. I think I'm ahead, though."

"Are you sure?"

"Oh, very. C'mere, look at this..." Makoto bent forward, arranging her fingers as though she were counting figures. Curious, and a mite disbelieving, Ami leaned over to watch. Feeling the other girl lean closer, Makoto rose her head and, with a wink of one spirited green eye, stole herself a brief kiss.

"Right, so we're even."

Ami clapped her fingers over her lips and sat back, blushing hotly. Makoto smiled shyly now, thinking that the brilliant idea of a moment before might now require some explanation. Still, she thought, the feeling of her lips and the look on her face would probably be worth it.

"But... what if I was ahead?" Ami said. "I think I might have been, so wouldn't we be more uneven?"

Makoto raised an eyebrow at her. "Then I guess I have to let you kiss me, as long as we've agreed that kissing and saving are counted the same."

"When did I agree to that?"

"You just said we were more uneven because of it, so you must agree with the premise," Makoto pointed out, trying to stifle a laugh.

"You just wait, Mako-chan, we'll see how this works out when we're home." Ami arranged her face into a beatific expression of amiability, so much so that Makoto actually worried about what that might mean. Her words also punted Makoto's thoughts a few miles away from her cloud-break of happiness, and now she began tiptoeing around voicing their forgone-concluded course of action: continuing this abominable travel. Hoping vainly, she checked again her senshi communicator. Still static.

"Let's eat," she said, forcing some cheer into her voice. Ami started, and looked like she might go to the food pack, but Makoto figured this as good a time as any to see how far she could exert herself. It didn't take her long to adjust to using very, very little of the right side of her chest. She was a little surprised to learn just how much she relied on the muscles in that area for things as simple as walking, and was sure she looked like a creaky machine walking stiffly to her pack. While it was good to know that she could walk without too much difficulty, Makoto wondered about the both of them trying to move. Could she work out a way to support Ami at all? That was saved for later consideration.

As of the moment, walking back to where Ami sat, something uncomfortably close to their campsite finally drew more of Makoto's attention, now that more pressing matters had been attended to.

"Ami-chan, what was that thing?"

Makoto sat down and doled out some of their remaining supplies. Ami took a bite of her food and allowed herself a minute of contemplation, before admitting simply:

"I don't know."

"You think it's connected to the enemies we were fighting?"

"I don't know."

Makoto quieted. Ami couldn't be expected to anything more than she herself did, she reasoned. Whatever _it_ was, though, was besides the point. _It _was dead. The only real question, then, was:

"Do you think there's more of them?"

"I don't know. I hope not."

They both lapsed into silence now. Makoto didn't want to consider it, but she knew that if another one of these _things_ found them, or if even the terror cell they'd infiltrated finally came after them, they stood much less a chance of survival than they had before this encounter. They finished eating.

"We need to get going."

"We do," Ami agreed, surprising Makoto. After that declaration that she _would _rest and all of that, she'd expected more of a fight. They sat, the first steps of continuing feeling inordinately heavy.

"Should probably take some precautions," Makoto decided, just to do _something_, "Jupiter Crystal Power, Make Up!" Ami looked at her, startled, as she made her transformation. Somehow, not even the identity of Sailor Jupiter filled Makoto with much confidence this time. Perhaps it was the first returning pangs of ache deep in her chest as the painkiller wore off, or maybe her inability to make any confident, assured movements, picking her every step carefully to avoid utilizing muscles that no longer did anything but signal pain. Sailor Jupiter today felt no more empowered now than she had a moment before, just perhaps better-clothed.

"Mercury Crystal Power, Make Up!" Another surprise, then, as Ami followed her example. "Why not?" The Senshi of Wisdom shrugged. "I'm slightly more useful now than I was a moment ago. Who knows what might happen next." With that gloomy pronouncement, they both steadied themselves the best they could on their feet, arranged their packs as comfortably as they could, and limped again on their journey. Jupiter wasn't able to support Mercury as much as she had before, but they did their best, willing their way through pain and discomfort to just keep one foot moving ahead of the other.

Their days passed miserably, their nights painfully, their mornings sorely. Neither of them had much breath to waste for conversation, until they would stop for the night. Then they would lay themselves out, often close to one another. Prickles of fear would crawl across their necks, the creature's attack having removed any security they might have felt. Being close helped, finding security in the presence of a close friend, and being able to help one another up when they woke.

Whenever sleep would elude them, they would talk of the past, and of home. They would sweat in the hot, humid jungle and Mercury would find herself speaking of slicing her way through cool water, powering her way through the liquid with quick, assured strokes. She wondered aloud if her knee, even with the aid of the technologies of Crystal Tokyo, would ever move quite the same again. She would laugh it off forcefully, saying that Michiru would certainly take the title of fastest-swimming senshi, then.

They would feel pangs of hunger, and Makoto would think of her kitchen. She talked that when they returned, she was going to make the most wonderful cherry pie that she'd ever made before, and they could share huge slices freshly cooled from the windowsill; light, sweet, flaky crust would melt in their mouths and deliciously thick filling made from fresh cherries would dance on their palate with the feeling of summer.

They both talked about seeing their friends again, and even managed little chuckles at Usagi's reaction. They'd be lucky if their benevolent Queen didn't lock them in a room for the rest of their lives, to keep them out of trouble. They managed to stave off the worst of despair in this way, thinking of happier times from before, and trying to keep their minds conjuring happy times to come.

Somehow, miraculously, days or weeks later they came upon the highway. Sailor Jupiter couldn't begin to guess whether this was near where they started their hike into the jungle; if it was, somebody had moved their abandoned car, but that was to be expected. There was no sunny break in the brush when they approached. The morning had dawned gray and bleak and had darkened progressively; the sky above was now only marginally lighter than the colour of the pavement as they stood panting at the tree line. They appreciated the break from the heat, and the clean scent of rain was heavy in the air. Sailor Jupiter looked at the road and though, though their journey still loomed for a good many more miles ahead of them, the sight of one--of _any--_goal was blissfully sweet. Before they could attract undue attention, the both of them transformed back. A couple of beaten and weary travelers weren't exactly inconspicuous, but more so than senshi.

_Beep!_

A sharp tone startled her from her thoughts. Two of them. The pair of friends looked at one another, not daring to hope. They lifted their communicators.

"Ami-chan? Mako-chan? Either of you, can you hear me? Please respond." It was Rei's voice, and it fell off for a count of ten before it came back again, with the same message. Her voice sounded tired, and mechanical, as though this weren't the first time she'd tried to reach them with the same message. Overcoming a lightheaded relief, Ami answered.

"Rei-chan...," relief thickened her voice, and she had to swallow before continuing. "Oh Rei-chan, it's Ami."

"Ami-chan! Oh, I have to tell--no, but you, what's going on with you? Where are you, what's going on, how are you doing? Is Mako-chan with you--"

"Rei-chan, please. I'm with Mako-chan. We're somewhere near these coordinates, at the highway," Ami relayed a pair of attitude and longitude points, "We need a lift. We'll answer more later, just get somebody over here. Neither of us are in any shape to teleport."

"R-roger." Rei's voice sounded strained on the other end, and it was obvious that she was incredibly worried about the pair of them, but realized that pelting them with an interrogation wouldn't help right now.

"The Millennial Army is on the way for a pickup, sit tight."

"Got it. Thanks, Rei-chan. See you soon."

"Right. I'll go tell everybody else that you're okay. By all my ancestors, you don't know how good it is to hear your voice. You said Mako-chan was with you?"

"Yes, I'm here, Rei-chan. We're okay, but we'll be a lot better as soon as we get some help, and should probably take it easy for the moment," Makoto hinted tiredly.

"Er, right. See you soon." The communicator went silent, and Ami breathed deeply. For the first time in weeks, a smile with no undercurrents of worry or fear arranged itself on her lips. She leaned sideways against Makoto and seemed to melt into her. Makoto was surprised to feel the same happening to her own face, with a matching lightness in her heart. Feeling the seemingly fragile presence of Ami pressed against her, she took a moment and contemplated her dearest friend. She was smaller, she was injured; though she was fit, she could not quite compare to the constant attention Makoto put into maintaining her endurance and strength. And yet, she had still made it this far, and done just as much, if not more than, Makoto had herself. It wasn't surprising, then, when Makoto found that Ami had nearly fallen asleep on her feet. Smiling gently, Makoto awkwardly settled herself down against the tree and sat Ami sideways across her lap, arranging her leg comfortably. It was something of a chore, being unable to use her right arm for the most part, but she managed with few mishaps. A cool wind gusted, bringing with it a first few drops of warm summer rain. With Ami's head resting comfortably against the healthy part of her front and a solid tree at her back, Makoto watched the wet breeze ruffle through Ami's hair, and a steady rain began to fall. They were soaked within minutes, fat drops of water pelting them and the tree, and coursing down their bodies. Ami barely even stirred, and Makoto raised her eyes to the sky to watch the rainfall. Normally being caught out in the rain while tired, hungry and hurt was adding worse to a bad situation, but somehow Makoto viewed it as one of the few pleasant things the world had done for them in a while. The Senshi of Thunder liked rain. To her, the rumbles of thunder that crawled through they air weren't anything to fear, but were more the purring, crooning lullaby of some mysterious God that had finally taken mercy on them

She hardly stirred when the sound, and then the sight, of a Silver Millennial helicopter came to her attention. After examining the markings and verifying the military insignia on the side, she was able to relax again, though she wasn't sure what she might have done were it anybody else. She waved a hand up at the pilot, and the copter landed on the empty highway; not a soul had passed on the highway today.

--

They were lifted to the nearest airport in the capital, Brasilía, and found a private Royal jet awaiting them. They were boarded swiftly and with as much privacy as possible, surely causing some sort of media uproar and whispers of conspiracy and cover-ups. Aboard the plane Makoto was surprised to find, of all people, Mamoru and Minako aboard and waiting to greet them. They exchanged hasty greetings, the Prince of the Earth and Senshi of Love with ill-disguised shock at the pair's condition written all over their faces. Makoto was very, very adamant that they needed rest more than anything right now, and they were shown to a small but serviceable bed in the plane. Makoto could have despaired over the ostentatious laziness that this spoke of in their Queen's character, but this time made a mental note to encourage the placement of beds wherever their Queen saw fit. She listened with vague attentiveness as Mamoru informed her it would be a little over an eight-hour trip back to Crystal Tokyo, with a few stops to refuel. Ami then took the job of waving off suggestions of stopping and receiving medical attention sooner, that they would be fine for the few hours until they got to the facilities in Crystal Tokyo. Somehow managing to get the others to leave them alone, they both collapsed and fell asleep on the fabulously soft bed, Makoto curling one arm protectively around Ami. Abandoning any pretense of modesty or pride or whatever would bar her from closeness with her friend, her heart awash with relief and happiness and peace, Ami turned to Makoto and curled against her, head resting on her chest. Makoto clasped her hand in her own.

"Soft...," Ami murmured sleepily. Her head sunk in the pillow and her mind sinking to sleep, Makoto had time for one muttering of her own,

"Yeah, the bed is," before she fell soundly asleep to the sound and rocking of the jet taxiing out of the runway. Not even takeoff managed to rouse the pair.


	11. Chapter 11

Don't let go... don't let go... don't let go...

"Mako-chan, you need to let go."

Don't let go... Makoto's arm tightened. No, she wouldn't let go. They were comfortable and safe. Keep her safe. Keep Ami safe. Here was safe, with _her_ was safe. They were floating on a cloud, now; high above the world and everything bad in it. A rolling, gray cloudscape where they could be together, in the protection of Jupiter. Rumbles of thunder and forks of lightning kept the evils of below at bay, so nothing could harm them. If she let go, Ami would fall. She had to keep holding on. She felt somebody trying to loosen her fingers, but it was all in vain for them, she determined angrily.

"Jeez, it's like she's got some kind of death grip. Care to give it a shot, your Highness?"

"Try to overpower Mako-chan? I believe I shall pass, Minako-chan--and don't you even try to question my masculinity on this one; I know my limits."

"Shall I try to wake her again?"

"Might as well."

A warm, gentle breath of wind flowed across her ear, making her flinch away. What was a little warm wind doing atop a storm cloud, she wondered, perplexed?

"MA-KO-CHAN!"

And she was falling, a shrill knife cutting through her sanctuary. Emerald eyes fluttered open as she rolled away from Minako's piercing voice, and then a red burst of agony shot through her chest. Unexpected and unbidden, a cry tore through her dry throat. Even in her pain, though, she looked down instinctively and was relieved to see Ami still there, held against her with one strong arm. Roused by the sound and motion, and brought to full alertness by her friend's cry, Ami blinked up at her.

"Mako-chan!" A deeper voice, together with a strong hand laid upon her shoulder. Makoto glanced up to see Mamoru's concerned countenance. She took a few shallow breathes and waited for the pain in her side to subside, and Mamoru breathed easier as well when he saw her calm.;

"Mako-chan," Minako said again, her voice oozing mellow sweetness now that her goal had been realized. "This is cute and all, but we're home. You need to let Ami go so she can get to the hospital, and so you can too."

"Huh?" Makoto replied, though awake, her mind still felt fuzzy and thick, barely parsing the words coming to her ears. "But, she can stay with me, it's fine."

"No, she needs to get into an ambulance and go see a doctor."

"It's okay, Mako-chan," a slight vibration on her torso brought Makoto's eyes down again. Ami was awake now, and a little more alert than her companion. She gently shrugged her way out of Makoto's embrace, blushing slightly at Minako and Mamoru watching the both of them. With her newly freed arm, Makoto rubbed at her eyes a bit, fighting off her confusion. Plane, forest, injuries, bad things; that all happened, now they were home. Makoto had to kick start her brain a few times, she felt as though she'd left it behind when they'd left.

Ami gingerly sat up and, with Minako's assistance, stood. Makoto tried to rise under her own power, but stiffened muscles combined with injuries made that impossible, and painful besides. Mamoru thoughtfully eased an arm around her shoulders to help her sit up, and then stand.

"Easy, Mako-chan. Let's get you to headed towards help. I won't bug you for details right now." Makoto grunted something that might have been an affirmative, and started walking down the jet towards the exit. The group went from the small, comfortable interior of Usagi's personal transport, down a connective hallway, and then to a bright, sterile-feeling room where they found two kind older men with kind eyes awaiting them. They were clad in equally bright, sterile white garments, and were armed with a pair of padded wheelchairs.

"Prince Endymion,"one of them spoke formally, both bowing deeply. They rose, and then the other acknowledged the senshi as well. "Sailors Jupiter, Mercury, Venus." They were recognized with a slightly less deep, but still very respectful, bow.

"The doctors should be ready," Mamoru said in his most regal manner. It was the sort of thing that would ordinarily have had all the senshi struggling not to roll their eyes, much the same as when Usagi did so, had they not had more important things on their mind. "These two soldiers of our Queen are in your care."

"Yes, your majesty." Another bow, while Makoto found herself struggling not to roll her eyes at the tedium of it all. Mamoru helped her into the chair while Minako helped Ami.

"Usak... Queen Serenity will be wanting to hear from us now. Expect a big visitation after you get settled in." Mamoru told them. He smiled, and it seemed to be the same kind, warm smile that the Prince usually had for them, but--though it could have been her imagination, lingering effects from fatigue or a plain trick of the eyes--she thought she detected a strain behind his words. She wondered if there had been some other disturbance or attack while they were away, or if something else might have happened. Before she could decide whether to ask, however, he and Minako were waving and walking away, and she and Ami were being firmly turned away and wheeled down the hall. Though she should have expected it, it still came as a shock when hers and Ami's paths diverged in the medical facility. Something in her face or the twitch of her hand in Ami's direction must have shown through, though, and the assistant pushing her spoke with more understanding than she might have expected.

"Don't worry about her, or yourself even. Let us take care of our returning heroes, you just relax."

Heroes. Makoto raised an eyebrow at him and cracked a smile. "Thanks." They were as sad a lot of returning "heroes" as she thought anybody would ever see. They'd been ambushed three times, nearly got themselves killed any number of times in the midst of it, and finished up by running away as fast as their battered bodies could take them. But of course, this fellow didn't know that, he just knew that he was taking care of one of the famous senshi who'd been hurt in the line of duty, protecting the Silver Millennium from its foes.

"Heroes," was stretching the case, and her brow furrowed in worry as she thought about it. That's right, it _had_ been an absolute debacle. They'd failed. Though it must have looked like simple fatigue, she sighed and lowered her head. She had failed. Hip-hip, hooray, she'd bloodied up a few of those fearsome terrorists, but they had both--even intelligent, resourceful Ami--been outsmarted and predicted in the worst possible way; and what had they had to show for it? A nontrivial medical bill and an enemy that would be even _harder _to find. How on Earth was she going to explain this to Usagi, or Rei, or Mamoru?

"Good afternoon. Or at least, it's _an _afternoon. What have you gotten yourself into, my girl?" A tall, thin, angular woman who seemed to have popped up from nowhere peered at her through a small pair of spectacles and made a disapproving clucking noise, "Dear, that's no way to take care of your skin, and it'll be a miracle if you can ever drag a brush through that hair again." The sheer absurdity of the woman's comments, and the absence of the usual reverence that citizens tended to show towards the senshi, roused Makoto's curiosity, banishing her gloomy thoughts for a breath. Before the obvious answer dawned on her, she couldn't help but blurt out,

"Who are you?"

"I'm Doctor Fleischer, and I've been given the delightful task of putting you back together. First, however, you're getting cleaned up; even if it wasn't a sanitation issue, the odor you're giving off might make me faint in the middle of a procedure." Fleischer waved her and the assistant in, and she was helped onto a small bed, after which the friendly gentleman left, leaving her alone with the doctor. She walked over to a nearby console and pressed a few buttons. "I have a couple of nurses on the way to prep you. You're not all that attached to your hair, now, are you? It would probably take longer to clean that up than it would to do the surgery."

"And it would take even longer to grow it back," Makoto pointed out. "I'll keep it, thanks."

"True, true," the doctor said flippantly. "I suppose our nation's soldiers must look good while tossing zappies and boom-twigs about, although those tan lines are simply hideous. What were you thinking?" The doctor ran a hand over her own short, boyish cut of dark, bluish black hair, eying her indolently. Despite her words, Makoto didn't really sense too much disparagement in Fleischer's words, and even smiled slightly at her droll speech.

"Ah, just testing some new tanning product for a company. I suppose you doctors can can look like nineties punk rejects while tossing scalpels and sutures about, but senshi have it tougher; always have to be following the latest trends, we do." Makoto did her best to imitate her doctor's manner, and it earned her a wry grin and a roll of the eyes. At that, Makoto laughed aloud. She couldn't remember the last time that somebody aware of her identity had rolled their eyes at her, and found herself taking an immediate liking to this woman. Discouraging further banter, the two nurses came in.

"All right then, time for a sponge bath."

Makoto allowed them to unclothe--or unbandage her, rather--and do the best job of cleaning that they could. For a while she was amazed at the amount of dirt they seemed to be getting off of her, but after a while she began to see a splotchiness to the dyed areas on her skin; the color must have be coming off. There was still an impressive amount of dirt and grime, but she was glad to know that it wasn't _that _much. The doctor came over curiously and ran a finger over her soapy forearm. "Trying to set a new trend? Try again. I think you're better off trying a more natural tan next time."

"I was thinking the same thing, you know. I guess I've always been a sucker for doing things the easy way; tanning is such a pain." The women finished cleaning her and gently dried her with a soft towel before excusing themselves.

"Now then, without all of that filth and bandages in the way, let's have a look at you." For the first time since Makoto had known her, which was admittedly a fairly short time, an expression of other than bored amusement surfaced on her features. A sickly expression accompanied her actions as, disbelievingly, she probed with light, practiced fingers at the stitched wounds stretching over her chest, and winced. Makoto was really surprised when she looked down at the cuts; they were barely recognizable as the gaping wounds they had been, at least to her eyes. The skin was discolored in unpleasant shades of red and brown in wide swaths over her chest, fading to a stark paleness around the edges. She knew personally how dreadfully tender and raw that the insides remained, but she was still surprised how quickly they had scarred over. Fleischer stood up straight then, her eyes flinty.

"Two questions, O Courageous One. Firstly, how did this happen?"

"Ah, that's one of those classified things, doctor."

"Fine, but you make sure something rather unpleasant happens to them."

Makoto remembered vividly enough the smell of burned ozone and flesh, and the last pitiful whimper and scrabbling claw of the guilty party. "No worries on that subject."

Fleischer managed a thin-lipped smile. "I might have known."

"What's the second question?" Makoto prodded curiously.

"Who dressed this? It's a remarkable job. It doesn't look like you pulled a single stitch while you were healing for all these months."

"Months?" Makoto asked blankly. "Oh! No, doc. We heal rather quickly, it's only been about a month." She thought about it for a few moments, then. "I did spend most of that time hiking through a forest, though. Is it really that unusual that I wouldn't pull a stitch?"

"For all you've done since receiving the injury? Yes." The doctor looked at her incredulously. "And did you say a _month_?"

"Give or take, I lost track of time. Other things on my mind, you know."

"Quite. In any case, you owe whichever doctor patched you up a _sound_ kissing." She grinned again, and winked. "I hope he was handsome."

Makoto blushed and coughed embarrassedly, but tried to shrug it off. "Pretty easy on my eyes."

Fleischer laughed: a pleasant, melodic sound that seemed out of place with her manner. "This will be one to tell my grandkids someday. 'Do you know, when you're grandma was young and beautiful she used to tease the senshi something _terrible_? You should have seen how I made Sailor Jupiter blush.'"

"Always happy to help out a friendly Grandma," Makoto shot back quickly. "Do you have any pictures of these lovely grandchildren?" She grinned innocently at the doctor, who still looked to be in her thirties.

Fleischer arched an eyebrow high. "Very funny, dear. Be careful, if you smile so wide I might just... slip, and cut a tendon or two to _keep_ you face like that."

"That seems somehow unethical."

"What an astute observation, girl. Speaking of ethics, however, there's probably something against bickering with a patient while they're in need of attention. How much pain would you say you're in from these gashes?"

"A little bit," Makoto nodded.

"Aren't you a tough one?" Fleischer rolled her eyes again. "Be honest with me for a moment, it's kind of important."

"It hurts like hell whenever I accidentally use one of the wrong muscles in there, and it turns out that a _lot_ of things accidentally use those muscles."

"Of course. Those are pretty deep, then? How deep would you say?"

Makoto tried to remember. "Umm, three inches at deepest? Maybe a little more, I didn't stop to measure."

"I can't blame you. Nonetheless, it looks like we'll have to break out the big guns if we want to keep our lovely lightning lady living lasciviously. The human body is reasonable at what it does, but scar tissue, as you well know, isn't generally constructed as well as the original. Would you have any problems to a bit of surgery to stitch you up on the inside? We can do it so well you'll never even know you were hurt. Besides, we can't have that nice big, pretty chest marred like it is." The doctor managed to evince yet another flush from her patient, who resisted the urge to cover herself and instead grumbled back,

"Of course I don't have any problems with that. You have to ask?"

"A formality. Can't operate without consent, and such. I'm glad you aren't being difficult about this."

"Only one thing," Makoto asked suddenly, a note of concern edging into her voice.

"What's that?"

"This means I can't eat yet, doesn't it? No food before surgery?"

Fleischer laughed again, "Good news for you, that won't apply to the procedure I have in mind. I'll call up some food for you."

Makoto's eyes brightened immediately. "Will you be my doctor forever?" She said with a mocking smile of adoration.

Fleischer didn't laugh, though, and instead looked at her as though sizing her up. "As long as you'll have me, Senshi of Decorative Lighting."

"Makoto," she said after a brief "Kino Makoto."

"My name is Terri, but 'Doc' is fine, Makoto-chan." Makoto's newfound friend smiled, "You know, I think being friends with a senshi might be an even better story to tell my grandkids."

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This was odd; she couldn't remember having agreed to an operation to replace her blood with lead, but that was the only explanation she could come up with for how she felt. She was oddly cognizant of the fact that she was in the hospital, and she had just had surgery, but did she ever feel _heavy. _ Makoto focused all her willpower on one hand and just barely managed to raise one finger, but then her willpower floated away along with the rest of her mind and she drifted off again. Her head didn't feel so heavy; perhaps they made her body this way so her head wouldn't float away. Her eyes felt puffy and her skull listless, as though inflated with helium, and she bobbed in and out of consciousness like a balloon on a string yanked by a child. There wasn't anything around to rouse her. A steady ticking wiled away in her ears and the mildly unpleasant odor of sterile, unscented laundry detergent reached her nose. On her skin was a papery texture , but for her feet and arms, which touched a warm, just slightly rough blanket. Her eyes saw only a dull gray ceiling in a dark room. If that was all that awaited her, she saw no reason to hurry up and become conscious, so it took a while for her to shake off the effects of the anesthetics.

Even after she did, she didn't move. They had her set up pretty comfortably, after all, with a warm, heavy hospital blanket and a soft pillow. She felt fresh and clean and she was comfortable, and that had all been so rare recently that it was as lovely a sensation as soaking in a hot spring or getting worked over by an experienced masseuse. Makoto felt her restless personality assert itself some time later. She had been expecting it from experience, however, so it wasn't _too_ irritating for her. She tried moving around carefully. Her whole body felt fatigued, though her mind was alert. Then again, she reminded herself, that might not be the fault of drugs alone, she had every reason to be tired and sore. The muscles on the right side of her chest felt great now, compared to how they had been before. They still ached, but it was something more along the level of a sprain or cramp instead of being run through the chest with a fire poker. She sat up. The pains from before were hard to forget, but she grimly forced herself into twisting her torso and shoulders every which way, soon relieved and marveling in her freedom of movement. Fleischer hadn't been kidding, she felt good as new. At that thought, she carefully slipped off the papery hospital gown she'd been clad in. Squinting in the dark, she brushed her fingers over her chest and shoulder, feeling nothing. She couldn't see, though.

Makoto looked around the room, wondering where she might be able to find a light. A small, dim rectangle with a recognizable light bulb insignia was on the wall close to her bed on the wall, and she pressed it. Fluorescent bulbs slowly started to grow in brightness on the ceiling, gently, so as to not hurt the eyes of a patient. Makoto thought that was awfully nice of them. She looked back down at her chest, and verified that there wasn't a mark to be seen. Woefully out of touch with regard to medical advancement, this was nothing short of amazing to Makoto. She thought of Ami, and wondered if this were the sort of thing she was having to learn to do now.

"Mako-chan?"

In the middle of still poking at her breast and shoulder, the voice, barely more than a whisper, startled her silly. She grabbed for the blankets and held them bunched in front of her. Turning to the side, she saw another bed in the room, which she'd missed in her hurry to have a look at her surgery results. Staring back at her, poking out from underneath a stark white blanket, was a soft pair of slightly confused, unfocused eyes, with a few locks of tousled, bed-head blue hair hanging in front of them.

'Ami-chan!"

Her friend cracked a smile, and blinked heavily a few times. Makoto figured she must have just been sleeping and not still drugged, as her sleepiness cleared up quite quickly. Ami sat up in her bed, propped up on one arm, and rubbed her eyes. For a few seconds Makoto thought something was wrong with what she was seeing, and tried to figure it out. It came to her as her gaze traveled up Ami's arm and to her neck: there was no skin coloration to be seen. Makoto looked down at herself, and saw that there were still very obvious lines on her own skin, though it was more like a little tanning than the deep, brazen color she'd had before. That was less than important at the moment, though.

"Did they fix you up, Mako-chan?"

Makoto flexed her right arm up and down for emphasis. "Sure did." She threw Ami a sidelong glance, "Although, my doctor told me that the person who patched me up the first time did such a good job that I owe her a good kissing."

"Owe? I seem to recall your having done that already," Ami pointed out.

"Oh!" Makoto remembered _that _now. "Er, haha. I suppose, although I hope that, ah, you know, that you..." Makoto wasn't sure exactly what was best to say here, "I was, um, tired, and..."

"You weren't quite yourself?" Ami supplied.

"Something like that," she replied quietly,

"I guess that wasn't quite how I wanted my first kiss to go, then." Ami stated matter-of-factly. Makoto blanch. She coughed quickly and tried to force color back into her face.

"F-first?"

"Unless I've forgotten something important, yes," Ami said neutrally, but then she turned her head to the far wall and Makoto heard, in almost a whisper, "I suppose I could have done worse."

Makoto opened her mouth to respond, but her mind was having too difficult a time trying to process the meaning of Ami's conflicting messages to form words of its own, so she didn't answer. As often happened, the more time that stretched between the words and response, the harder it was to express that response, so Makoto soon abandoned thought of even trying. Instead, she spent a few productive minutes mentally slapping herself a good one, Ami wordless in the other bed. The stillness in the room began to eat at Makoto.

"So... how did the doctors do with you?" She ventured a new subject.

Ami turned back. Makoto was relieved to see happiness in her friend's features, and hoped that everything was okay between them. The blankets over Ami's legs bumped upwards as she flexed both knees several times.

"Just fine. Looks like Michiru still has competition from my quarter. There were a few bruised ribs too, as it turns out, but those weren't any problem."

"Not a single honourable war wound to brag about later?"

"We'll survive somehow, Mako-chan," Ami said dryly.

"Ami-chan?'

"Yes?"

"It's good to be home."

"It is."

"Do you have any idea when we'll be able to leave the hospital?"

"Right now, if we wanted to, although they would probably prefer we stay until morning to get the sedatives all out of our system. At the very least, we'd need to have an escort back."

Makoto looked around, "I don't think I would mind that too much. There's something about hospital rooms that make me fidgety. Although, I'm probably just being stubborn." Makoto grinned. "I can't stand the thought that somebody doesn't believe _I_ can be up and about--even if they're right--and hospitals are full of those people."

"I'll get the nurse, then."

The nurse on duty clearly had reservations about their request, but this was one of those nice times when their status helped clear the way for them, down to the slightly above-and-beyond request that they get some new clothes. Makoto was unwilling to disclose the location of her apartment to the hospital, as it was a sensitive part of her private, non-senshi life, and it was easier just to get a pair of jeans and a t-shirt from a nearby store than get somebody into the Crystal Palace for Ami's belongings. It might have been easier had they just gotten one of the other senshi to help them, but neither of them really wanted to reunite just yet, because that was going to mean a lot of difficult questions and long stories. Instead, Makoto had a little fit of intuition and suggested that they call Mamoru to be their required escort: one part the hospital wouldn't budge on.

They felt they might be able to count on Mamoru picking up on, and honoring, their wish to not talk about anything yet, while they're Queen wasn't usually the most patient of women. Well, that and he still had his own car, something the other senshi had never gotten around to. When she called, she thought it was a little odd that she found him awake and alert at three o'clock in the morning. But then, so were they, so who was she to ask questions? They stood in the front lobby of the hospital while the nurse traded off between shooting them dirty looks and fretting worrisomely, but aside from a few powerful yawns Makoto felt fine, at least physically.

Mamoru showed up soon thereafter, and surprised Makoto and Ami both for the strangest of reasons: he actually looked as though he were a young man who had no business being up this late, and being up anyway. His hair lay disheveled across his brow and his jacket looked rumpled, as though is had been carelessly thrown to the side before necessity dictate he put it back on tonight. One side of his collar was flipped up, he apparently unaware of it until Ami walked up to him and wordlessly fixed it. A haze cleared from behind his eyes at the action, and he was suddenly more conscious of his surroundings. He arranged his face into a more competent countenance, and smiled with practiced confidence at the attendant nurse who now looked at _him _with concern, rather than her patients.

"My sincerest thanks for aiding my sisters, ma'am, I do hope you were not terribly inconvenienced tonight."

"Not at all, Highness, but you make sure they get rest, and you too." She looked stern for all of half an eye blink, before she remembered who she was addressing. "Begging your pardon, but that is the only thing needed still."

"Your concern becomes your station, I'll be certain to follow your advice." Mamoru smiled warmly and turned, walking out with the two girls at his heel. Once outside, he turned to face them. Makoto saw that he still smiled with some kindness, and the air of control and authority that he'd exuded before he had now let go. The result was just what they had seen walking in.

"Thanks for the ride, Mamoru-san," Ami said politely.

"No problem, Ami-chan."

"I thought I was lucky to catch you awake," Makoto related to him, "But maybe your just good at putting yourself together when you're waking. Sorry to disturb you."

"No worries, Mako-chan. I'd only barely begun to doze off, and then only by accident. It probably was--is, time to get some sleep, though, so why don't you tell me where you two need to go?"

"Ah..." Makoto looked to Ami, "I guess you need to get to the Palace--

"About that," Mamoru interjected, and she turned to him. "While you've been away, Rei-chan has made a few changes. Understandably concerned about the possibility of more enemy agents on the way, or already in the city, she's tightened up security severely around the palace, to the point that even our rank isn't enough to bull through, and my rank carries a _lot _of bull." He winked, and they both cracked grins, but Ami's fell as she processed this news more.

"So, what kind of procedures are we talking about?"

"Identification, a few scans, and a personal search." He said the last with well-defined displeasure. "Your talking about another hour or so before you get anywhere near your wing."

Ami groaned. "Maybe I'll stay in a hotel or something tonight."

"You can stay with me," Makoto offered instantly. "I have a spare futon in the closet, and you won't even have to deal with a concierge."

Ami weighed her options. "You sure you wouldn't mind? I don't want to impose."

"Ami-chan, if I can share the underside of a fern for a night with you, I can certainly manage to find enough room in my apartment."

Mamoru began chuckling in the driver's seat.

"Mamoru-san?" Ami wondered.

"Minako-chan was telling me that your relationship was... strained, prior to your departure. I'm glad to see that, whatever else happened out there--and it must have been something, telling from the state of you when we picked you up--you're getting along well again."

Makoto didn't know what to say to that; what was there to say? "You're welcome to stay too, Mamoru," Makoto started. "You don't look like you'd be thrilled with an hour wait and another search, either. All I have to offer is a couch, though--"

"Thank you for that kindness, but I already have a place to stay outside of the Palace tonight." He rather pointedly paid his full attention to the road at this juncture, and Makoto realized that no more explanation was forthcoming, nor did he really want anybody prying, so she left it alone. He was doing them a courtesy at the moment in chauffeuring them around and not asking them about their travails, so she could repay him in kind. She gave him instructions to her place, which was conveniently close to the Palace but just far enough to be away from the worst of the hustle and bustle of the capitol, and he dropped them off. He waved farewell in the warm golden-orange hues of the city's phosphorescent crystal deposits and drove away, leaving the pair of them to sneak in and to the elevator. Makoto did prefer to keep a low profile as a civilian, and coming back to her apartment in the dead of night after months away with nothing but a plain white t-shirt and jeans, and a companion identically garbed, would probably spark the curiosity of those who knew her even just in passing.

Once inside she breathed a sigh of relief, and shut off her thoughts of the outside world along with the door to it. They stepped hushed to the bedroom, feeling the reluctance to create noise that came with the early hour. Building materials in this era, in this city, were such that it was nigh-impossible for sound to carry through rooms, but they still padded around the apartment as though Makoto were afraid to wake the neighbors. Entering her bedroom and flipping the light switch, she unbuttoned her new jeans and fell face-first on her bed.

"Kindly feel free to join me, Ami-chan," she spoke from around a fold of blanket. An answering bounce in the bed to the side of her signaled that Ami was not feeling up to argument. "I'll just take a rest and then go get that futon and lay it out. It's been a while since I slept on that thing, but I do remember it being comfortable enough. I also think that laying across steel bars would be rather comfortable right now, too, so perhaps it doesn't matter."

"What? No, Mako-chan, please. I'll get up and get the futon, this is _your _bed."

"I'm not arguing with you."

"Alrigh--"

"No." Makoto flopped an arm over Ami, who was raising herself up and now lay flat again. "I'm not arguing because you're my guest and you'll abide by my house rules. Guest takes the bed."

"Mako-chan, I'm too tired to argue, just take the bed."

"That's not fair, why can't I say the same thing?"

"Because," Ami said flatly.

A few seconds passed, and Makoto yawned, her jaw creaking as it opened wide. "Why am I so tired, anyway? Didn't I just wake up?"

"Physical need for increased sleep to aid in the recovery process, stress-induced lethargy, sedative aftereffect still in the system..." Ami listed out what she could think of off the top of her head.

"Oh, right. Well, if I've got all that, I probably shouldn't get up."

"Is that you agreeing with me, Mako-chan?"

"No, it also means you probably shouldn't get up."

"Mm," was all Ami could work up.

"I will make myself comfortable, though." Makoto hooked her thumbs into the waistband of her jeans and wiggled loose from them, pulling first one then another leg out and throwing them blindly across the room. She reached under her shirt and removed her provided bra as well, and tossed that away just as negligently. She was facing away from Ami, but judging from the sudden activity she felt on the bed, she thought her friend might be following her example.

"Your legs look silly, Mako-chan," Ami said afterwards. "Looks like your skin takes better to that dye than mine. No doubt the military would like to know why."

"No doubt the military can ask me themselves, if they would care so much," Makoto replied, trying not to think of Ami looking at her exposed legs--and perhaps more, judging from the cool air she could feel on the small of her back. She turned her head, only to meet Ami's eyes looking straight into hers. "I'm more worried about other things they'd like to know."

Ami smiled reassuringly, though Makoto could see her concerns reflected back at her from Ami's face. "That's nothing to worry about right now, Mako-chan. Let's think happy thoughts and have sweet dreams, let the rest come when it may." Ami reached over to her corner of the bed and pulled the sheet and blanket back and wriggling beneath them. Makoto did so, too, and rolled onto her side away from Ami, self-consciously trying to give them both room to spread out. She only just arranged herself comfortably, though, when she felt a light warmth on her back, and smooth skin grazing her calves.

"Sweet dreams," Ami echoed herself, the voice so close that Makoto felt a shiver run down her spine.

"Sweet dreams," Makoto agreed a handful of heartbeats later, while her heart and brain both parlayed for attention, yearning and disbelieving respectively. Firmly, she listened to the latter and refused point-blank to believe any readings into Ami's actions, favoring that disbelief; Makoto had long since learned the folly in trusting that unfaithful organ to seek true, and she gagged its clamor. Trying to ignore the muffled cries, Makoto allowed her tiredness to take her away from the world, and she slipped beneath a sleep blessedly devoid of dreaming

When she awoke she was alone, and that itself was so unusual that it jarred her to full wakefulness. Makoto raised herself on two arms and the sheets slid from her shoulders and down her back. The light in the room was still on, neither of them caring enough to rise and turn it off when they'd fallen asleep, and the room was empty. The window was still dark, so she knew she hadn't been asleep for long. Or had been asleep for twenty-four hours straight, she conceded, though it didn't feel like that were the case. The light tinkle of glasses in the kitchen told Makoto where Ami had gone to. She stretched, and noticed the smooth, warm scent of tea in the air. Smiling, she stood and readied herself to go into the other room. Her apron was still hanging on the inside of the door, where she had left it, and a flutter of odd humour had her chuckling. Reasoning that she had, in fact, already spent a night in the same bed clad in little more, and working up a bit of nerve, she took it off the hook.

"G'morning, Ami-chan. Tea sounds lovely, thanks. I'll make breakfast, too, if you're feeling as hungry as I am." Ami wasn't in the kitchen, Makoto was disappointed to find, but she walked towards the entryway to the sitting room determinedly. "By the way, what do you think of my new look? I've heard it's quite popular in some circles." Makoto twirled into the room, so to better display the advantages of her attire, and ended facing Ami sitting on the couch, clad demurely in Makoto's bathrobe, looking surprised with a red flush to her cheeks. Makoto might have laughed aloud at that point, had it not been for the burst of raucous laughter and the amusement in the _other _face looking to her.

"Mi-Minako-chan!" Makoto stammered, face turning several shades darker than the cheery pink of her apron, and after a shocked second she ducked back into the kitchen.

"Hey hey, where you going, Mako-chan? I can enjoy the view just as much as Ami-chan can. Well, maybe not _quite_ as much as Am--"

"Mi-Minako!" Makoto heard Ami interrupt her.

"Yes? My my, but aren't _you _red. Mako-chan, get back in here! I'm curious to know which of you is blushing harder."

Makoto fled back into her room and opened her drawers more roughly than she really needed to, Minako's laughter still pealing through the rooms. She pulled on a pair of normal, entirely plain, and quite boring, pajamas, then walked back into the sitting room.

"Good morning, Minako-chan," she tried to say casually, but the words came out stiff enough to break her teeth on.

"Good morning to you, too, Mako-chan. I think Ami-chan's having a good morning as well, even if you did mess up the naked apron look--come now, you _must _know better than that, why didn't you lose the panti--" Ami coughed loudly, but rather than taking the hint, the irascible girl merely continued running her mouth. "Oh, have you caught a cold, Ami-chan? Don't worry, I know this great cold remedy that I'm sure Mako-chan could help you with. Mako-chan, do you happen to have any leeks in your ki--"

"Ami-chan," Makoto said loudly now, talking over the other girl, "We did say we missed our friends, didn't we?"

"I think I remember that, yes."

"Why?" Makoto shrugged, and shook her head sadly. Minako looked between her and Ami's scandalized embarrassment, and she sighed exaggeratedly.

"You two are no fun," she pouted. She brightened immediately after, though, as was her wont. "So, what's for breakfast?"

Makoto didn't even bother to answer, she just breathed in and out at a measured pace and walked back into the kitchen. The kitchen wasn't so far that she couldn't hear the conversation in the other room, however.

"You know, a girl could get suspicious. You two were blushing just like a couple getting caught doing something naughty. I was prepared to overlook the fact that you were at Mako-chan's house, and that you were in her bedroom, and even that you were wearing her bathrobe, but a girl can only take so much before she gets suspicious."

"Minako-chan," Makoto had to strain her ear more to hear Ami's soft reply, the strain in her patience audible. "Perhaps we could go back to talking about why you're here at all, to have seen these things in the first place?"

"Oh, _that _sounds like an intentional evasion of the subject if I've ever heard one, tee-hee."

"Minako-chan," Makoto called from the kitchen then, determined to put an end to their harassment. "You did like cottage cheese and cumin spread over your muffins, right? Or was that somebody else, I could swear it was you."

"Ah, that must have been somebody else, Mako-chan." Minako answered after a few heartbeats, in a queasy-sounding voice.

"Hmm, but I _know_ it was somebody incredibly annoying, who couldn't close their mouth when they should. Are you sure it wasn't you?"

"Erm, yes, quite sure."

"Oh... well, the thing is that I already made yours like that. Perhaps you can try them, you never know what you might end up liking."

There was a telling silence in the living room, in which Ami jumped at the chance to speak.

"So what on Earth are you doing here so early in the morning, Minako-chan?"

"I can't come see how you're doing? The last I'd seen you looked half-dead and were being wheeled off into the hospital. The rest of the girls and I were planning to come visit you at the hospital tomorrow, but when I told Mamoru about that he said you had already left! It would have been a nasty surprise for us tomorrow, you know. So inconsiderate."

Makoto rolled her eyes at Minako's injured tone.

"I suppose you're right, Minako-chan, I'm sorry." Makoto was surprised to hear Ami apologize so readily, but the purpose behind her amenable tone was soon evidenced. "It was very lucky for you that Mamoru-san was able to let you know; good thing that you had some other matter to discuss with him this morning. In fact... now that Mako-chan and I are back home, could you fill us in as well? It must be very important news if you had to tell the King about it at such an early hour.

"Ah, no, it wasn't all that important. Just, erm... asking if he wanted to come visit you tomorrow with the rest of us!"

"You couldn't talk to him about that tomorrow, Minako-chan, you had to wake him in the middle of the night?" Ami said with just the right amount of surprise to let Makoto know that she was not surprised at all, and quite unready to believe Minako's hesitant, nervous explanation.

"Ah, ha ha. Just overeager, I suppose." Minako said nervously, and covered herself by taking the offensive. "We haven't seen either of you in months, you know, or heard anything. We were all worried, and things have been kind of tense around here in the meantime. Crystal Tokyo was attacked for the first time in its history, and the whole world watched while we didn't do anything at all about it. It's been kind of embarrassing... but you can give us something to work with! We're all tired of just sitting around and waiting."

"Ah, maybe so. I don't really want to talk about it right now, though."

"Oh, of course! From the looks of things, something bad happened. I'm glad to see you're okay now." Minako sort of trailed off after that, as though ashamed of her own fervor.

"Yes, we're fine, but a little time to acclimate back to Tokyo would be nice, and to just relax."

"And we don't want to have to go through the story more than once, it's kind of long," Makoto chipped in from the kitchen. "By the way, breakfast is ready. I can't wait to see what you think of this, Minako-chan."

"Oh, actually, I forgot about another, um, thing that I had to do this morning. There's a... sale going on at a store nearby, and I need... breasts. Chicken. Chicken breasts. I'll have to enjoy your cooking another time, Mako-chan, see you both later." Just as Makoto walked into the room carrying a small platter, Minako waved cheerfully to her from the doorway and slipped out.

"Oh, my. Mako-chan, did you really make her something so awful-sounding?"

"Hmm, awful? Whatever could you mean? You don't like cream cheese and salmon on your bagels?" Makoto said innocently, setting down the platter and showing the contents. "Perhaps I was misheard?"

Ami laughed softly, and sipped at her tea with eyes closed. Makoto was about to take a bite of her breakfast, when one of those eyes opened mischievously and glanced to her. "Incidentally, I should probably let you know that you do the naked apron justice. Minako-chan might have had a point, though--"

"Pardon? When does Minako-chan _ever _have a point." Makoto interrupted, more to stop the conversation going in that direction than to joke about their friend. Ami just smiled and bit into a bagel, but she wasn't done yet.

"Maybe we can try it out when you make lunch? It's been a while since I played dress-up." Ami suggested nonchalantly.

Makoto averted her eyes and began eating breakfast quickly and quietly, though the heat from her skin could have kept it plenty warm no matter how long she waited. It was times like these that convinced her that there was an intelligent higher power at work in the universe; mere chance and chaos could never have let this happen in her life, something out there just _had _to be having a good laugh right now.

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"Separate?" Jupiter echoed the guard with a frown on her face.

"Yes ma'am. New regulations, you understand. Visitors must go through screening separately. Procedure is calling for you to be debriefed separately, regardless, so if it please you, we could get through this more quickly with your cooperation." The Palace guard, a man with streaks of salt-and-pepper color in his temples that nonetheless carried himself easily in his powerfully built frame, was taking an absolutely unbudging stance on his new orders, which Sailor Jupiter could hardly fault him for. She didn't have to like the rules, however.

"I couldn't just fry something utterly inoffensive and probably expensive to prove my identity?" The man looked somewhat taken aback by the offer, but recovered.

"I would likely believe you if you did so, Senshi, but that would have no bearing on my orders."

"I am so going to get Mars for this," Jupiter grumbled. Mercury stood more patiently beside her, and they turned to face one another.

"See you on the other side," Sailor Jupiter shrugged.

"See you there," Mercury agreed, and they clasped hands before being led off to separate entrances by a couple of younger guards.

Jupiter's first hindrance came when she couldn't provide picture identification for her name and occupation, but a few incredulous looks and a little angry talking actually proved enough to get this attendant to call his supervisor and get her to another room, where they did a retinal scan and mouth swab. This seemed enough to satisfy them at this stage, and she was subsequently sent through a decontamination chamber on the off-chance she were carrying some terrible disease for the government, and through an X-Ray looking for contraband. Lastly she was treated to a search by a no-nonsense female Palace guard that gave her insight into Mamoru's displeasure with the act--and he probably didn't have the difficulty of a buttonless, claspless, zipperless, and otherwise difficult to access one-piece bodysuit to contend with. Feeling as though everything were rubbing in all the wrong places when that was over with, Sailor Jupiter was a grumpy soul when she stepped out into the Palace proper. A guard followed her out.

"What, do I have to have some young boot-shiner with me as insurance, too?" She snapped angrily. The nameless youth colored, but she was well-disciplined.

"I'm to show you where to debrief, after which you are free to go about as you please, Senshi of Thunder," she answered diffidently.

"Ah... well, carry on," Sailor Jupiter said lamely. She was taken to a small but comfortable room where sat a young bespectacled lady with a laptop and a hair pulled into a bun that threatened to rip off her scalp, and an older man in decorated uniform that was only just gone to seed. She didn't even have to ask for the procedure, Jupiter stated her name and the subject of their meeting today, and began relating everything she thought was tactically important from hers and Ami's mission, leaving out, of course, what she thought nobody needed to know. The officer only stopped to question her on a few occasions for clarification, or to dig for details he wished to know, but otherwise it was a quick and painless time spent. Afterwards she headed as fast as her long legs would carry her to the throne room, glad to escape the carefully neutral face of the officer, whom she couldn't help but imagine was thinking poorly of her, indeed, for her performance during the mission.

She entered the throne room to find another guard, who advised her that the Queen and her personal guard were further into the Palace, in the Queen's private quarters. So Sailor Jupiter continued on, into Usagi's personal area made up more homey than the rest of the palace, where she could--and often did--throw off the trappings of royalty for the comforts of childhood. In a brief moment of insight, Jupiter thought about how that old dream of living the life of a normal girl felt ever more ethereal with every passing year. It was an uncomfortable feeling, realizing how accepting she was becoming of her tumultuous life, and realizing how necessary it really was. Thinking then about the students she needed to get back to, and wondering if she should make something for them all by way of apology for being gone so long, she also decided that, acceptance and necessity aside, there was no reason not to _try _and maintain some semblance of normality where she could.

Usagi and Rei were to be found sitting silently and fidgeting on the couch in Usagi's retreat, and at her entrance they both jumped up with twin squeals and hugged her tightly. After a surprised gasp, Jupiter smiled warmly, thinking again about being a normal girl with normal friends, and made herself comfortable in the room.

"Mako-chan!" Usagi sobbed, while Rei pulled back and arranged herself with more dignity.

"It's good to see you, Mako-chan. We'd become worried, and no less with Minako in hysterics about your state after she and Mamoru had turned you over to the hospital."

Makoto yet out a short yelp as Usagi began groping her chest. "Where is it? Minako said you were really hurt here, I want to see!" Makoto's queen demanded.

"Nothing to see, Usagi-chan. The doctor fixed me all up, good as new. If it please you, I'd rather not expose myself again today."

"Again?" Rei asked.

"I take it you haven't talked to Minako today, yet?" Makoto grumbled.

"No, I haven't."

"Well, she can tell you if she like. I won't."

Rei and Usagi exchanged glances, but Mercury's entrance interrupted their thoughts and led to another round of squeals and hugs, and for Usagi dropping to her knees and grasping at Mercury's knee, which brought her an accidental kick on the chin from a surprised Mercury--it turned out that Ami's knees were very ticklish, she explained apologetically after she had sat down. Makoto filed that away for future reference, along with a not not to be standing in front of her whenever she decided to try it. With the more exciting bits of the reunion out of the way, it wasn't long before Mamoru showed up to the room as well, Minako with him. Taking it in turns, Makoto and Ami related the details of their adventures once more to a captive audience. Each of them reacted much the same as Makoto might have expected. Usagi looked downright traumatized and liable to burst into tears, while Rei and Mamoru wore mirroring troubled, darkly thoughtful expressions. Minako fell somewhere in between, sharing Usagi's horror, but keeping her wits about her slightly better than the guilt-ridden Queen.

"I knew I shouldn't have let you go!" She wailed, and Ami sat beside her to comfort and reassure her, leaving Makoto to discuss the matter with the Queen's guard and co-ruler.

Makoto bit her lip. "I'm sorry, Usagi-chan. I don't know what I was thinking, we should have retreated. Too much went wrong, and I tried to bull ahead anyway."

"No, Mako-chan, I'm just glad that you came ba--"

"Damn right, Mako-chan," Rei interrupted.

"No, she's not right, Rei-chan," Ami jumped in. "I took the lead more often than not, so whatever happened can be laid squarely at my feet. Wasn't my purpose there to be the voice of reason?"

"I never said it was all her fault either, Ami-chan." Rei turned to her. "You both screwed up, badly."

"Rei!" Usagi exclaimed, looking injured. "How can you say such a thing?"

"Were you listening, Usagi? They were mysteriously attacked by two men in the middle of the night and, with absolutely no inkling of what had given them away in the first place, continued on their mission. Already the element of surprise was gone. But I suppose it was Mako-chan that tried to force you ahead so recklessly?"

"Yes, Ami suggested retreating at this point--'

"I did no such thing!" Ami protested. "I just panicked and started babbling about getting killed."

"And who was it that encouraged you to try and continue anyway?"

"No, you encouraged me to calm down and think about it."

"To think about a way to keep going. I should have told you to find us a safe way _out _of there."

"I should have realized that was the best option!"

"Hold on, you two," Minako jumped in between their conversation, and in between them physically as well. "Seems to me like you just tried your best to finish a mission successfully, and encouraged one another like good friends should."

"That doesn't make it right!"

"That doesn't make it right!"

Ami and Makoto argued at her together.

"No, it doesn't make it 'right,'" Rei said in the pause that followed, "but I'd say it makes you both a little bit wrong. The mission went from just failure, to a failure that nearly killed one or both of you. Did you ever, just once, try to convince yourself that you needed to risk your _life _for this? Didn't we tell you rather explicitly to avoid that happening first and foremost?" Rei's mask shattered as her shoulders shuddered and a waver entered her voice. "There was a reason we told you not to get hurt, you know. It's not just some stupid formality."

"Rei-chan..." Usagi said softly, smiling now. "Why do you try so hard to act like you don't care, sometimes?" Usagi shook her head slowly, looking more regal than Makoto could remember in her gentle dignity. The Queen turned to Makoto and Ami. "I'll just say royally what Rei wanted to. The loss of a mission is a shame, but we can recover. The loss of a friend is a tragedy that would leave a hole in our lives forever. But let us stop shifting blame and talking about what should have been done. The important thing is that you're back home safely."

"But that's not the only thing," Mamoru said, earning him a surprised look from Usagi. Seeing them interact, Makoto for the first time noticed the difference in the air between them: where they stood, how they faced one another, the discomfiture in their eyes and postures, it all spoke of serious trouble in paradise, that could only be more serious for what the couple had already gone through in their relationship. "Just because the mission didn't succeed to its original intent does not mean we have not learned anything yet. We know that the terrorist organization is spread across many nations, and rooted in dissatisfaction with the dissemination of Silver Millennium technologies. We know they have a charismatic leader who, by some indications, might very well have more than just charisma working for him. What we have, everybody, is trouble like we haven't known in years."

"Right, there are more important things to do other than arguing about fault here, girls," Minako agreed fervently. "Like what about that monster you fought?"

"We told you all we knew," Makoto shrugged. "Looks like we've got youma again."

"How can you say that so calmly?" Rei asked incredulously. "I thought we were done with all of that after Galaxia. I thought the universe had run out of people that were pissed off at the Solar System."

"Our forebears had to get those enemies in the first place, before they could lock them up and have them return for vengeance," Ami pointed out.

"This is much worse than any other enemy we've fought, though..." Usagi shook her head sadly.

"Really?" Makoto asked, surprised. "I'd thought that the whole, 'unmaking and-or destruction of the universe and all of reality' thing was pretty much the worst."

"Perhaps," Usagi conceded, "Perhaps this is not the worst. But to know that my people, the people we've fought to protect for so long, have been turned against us... it _feels _like the worst. Haven't I failed my people, if they believe they need to fight me?"

"No, Usagi-chan!" Ami argued. "You're their Queen, not a magical genie that can make everybody's dreams come true without working for it. They are being misinformed, led to believe that you're purposefully withholding a better life, when we all know you're working hard to give everybody just that. It's not your fault."

Usagi didn't answer, but the sadness remained in her appreciative smile.

"That's not the only difference in this enemy, though," Mamoru noted. "Mako-chan, you fought the creature, how did it compare to the other enemies you've fought before?"

"Wild," was the first thing that popped out of Makoto's mouth. "It didn't seem so much like an alien or some evil monster as it did a wild animal. It wasn't... smart. I mean, we've fought some dumb things before, but this didn't even have the lightest glimmer of intelligence. Cunning, yes, but not really intelligence."

"It had protections against our powers," Ami added, "But it was a natural protection. Well, sort of natural. I mean that it didn't seem to have... any powers of its own. It was strong and fast, with sharp claws and possibly poison, and had a decidedly alien physiology, but that was it. It was made of flesh and blood."

"Is there anything else you can remember about it, anything at all?" Mamoru pressed.

"Well," Ami furrowed her eyebrows in thought. "It was odd how very unique it seemed to be for defending itself from Sailor Jupiter." A burst of realization took her, "And Sailor Jupiter was the only senshi they could have identified from before!"

"Interesting," Rei nodded slowly. "So, either they have a selection of youma to choose from--kind of unlikely, or they would have just sent two and probably finished you off--or these things are created. Wouldn't be the first time our enemies were made on the run, but it would be the first time that they were custom-built for the threat at hand. Or it was a lucky pick on their part, for all we know."

"But we shouldn't count on that," Minako said firmly. "We have to assume they know what they're doing, or we could pay for it." Makoto and Ami exchanged glances. They certainly knew that lesson now.

"Hmph. You'd think that ruling the Earth and such would make things like this easier," Usagi frowned, and more of their old leader came out in her eyes. "Why do so many people _want _this job? It's hard!" The tension melted away as Usagi turned her plaintive face around the room. "But I suppose somebody has to do it. Well then, time to decide on duties. Makoto-chan, Ami-chan, take a few days off; don't let me catch you working, or I'll make you pay! Rei-chan, you--"

"Hold on there, Usagi," Rei interrupted her. "I already know what I need to do. I've been neglecting some of my responsibilities, lately, being so busy around here. I think it's time I go pay a long visit back to the shrine, and see what the flames can tell me about our situation, if anything."

Usagi clearly disagreed with this plan, and didn't hesitate to say so. "No, you need to stay with me. Er, as my bodyguard, you know."

"Minako-chan, you are hereby appointed temporary guard to the Queen. Have fun. Was there anything else you needed, Usagi-chan?" Rei asked her with an eyebrow tilted challengingly.

"Hey, what if I already had something for her to do?" Usagi demanded.

"Did you?"

"Well... no, but what if I had? You can't just decide things like that by yourself!"

"I can't decide for myself what _I'm _going to do, is that what you're saying?"

"That's not it at all! You listen here, Rei..."

Sensing the imminent dissolving of civility, Makoto caught Ami's eye. "Hey, why don't you go back to your room?" She asked quietly. Ami nodded, and they started for the door amidst more bickering from the two friends. They walked down the hallway a bit with the sounds of raising voices trailing behind them, until a crystal-clear screech cut through the walls, "Oh my pardon, your _majesty,_ Queen Rei!"

"I get the feeling Usagi-chan rather enjoys wearing the pants in the family, and doesn't appreciate Rei-chan threatening them." Makoto noted dryly.

"Oh, I'm not so sure about that. If one were so devoid of morals as to listen to the Palace gossip, one might get the idea that this is all a game for our glorious leader," a conspiratorial voice quipped. Minako popped up from behind them.

"If?" Makoto raised an eyebrow.

"Fine, _when _one is so devoid of morals. Anyway, don't worry about them. Doesn't really matter who wears the pants in the family, they'll all be off by the end of the day and much making up will be done, and all will be right with the world," Minako finished with a cheeky wink. "That's the only reason I'm following you two right now instead of getting ready for guard duty. I just knowthat Rei's going to be _far _too busy to go stare at a fire today; I'll come back tomorrow so I don't get in their way. Er, _is _it all right to follow you, I don't want to go from the frying pan to the fire, and all..."

"Would you go away if I said it isn't all right?" Ami asked pointedly. Minako looked between her and Makoto, searching for a clue that might give the question away as a joke, but Makoto did her best to keep a straight face. She wasn't sure if she wanted to laugh or smack Minako, anyway, so neutrality wasn't that hard to maintain.

"Ah..." Minako wasn't able to form an answer. "I guess it doesn't matter, I should go pack a few days worth of my things for moving into the Palace. See you later." Minako turned off at the next intersection.

"I do wonder what's going on inside that blonde head of hers," Ami said aloud.. Makoto's mind was working overtime trying to discern what might be going on in another mind, at the moment.

"But you aren't wondering at all about what she just said?"

"Oh, about you and I--"

"No!" Makoto interrupted quickly, "I mean about Rei-chan and Usagi-chan. That was hardly a time for Minako to be joking, you know."

"My, you haven't been spending much time around the Palace, have you? Admittedly, neither have I, but in the short time I was here I noticed _that_."

"You're serious? But what about the eternal, undying love of Serenity and Endymion thing?" Makoto couldn't help but have a tone of pointing out the obvious.

"I just noticed what was going on, I never caught _why,_" Ami shrugged. "You'd have to ask one of them, but it's hardly a secret any longer that Rei-chan stopped being just a friend and guard to Usagi-chan a while ago. Although the idea that Usagi-chan could pick a fight with her just to keep her around for another day is interesting to consider. I'm not sure if she could be that duplicitous."

Makoto was shocked speechless. Scanning her memory, she realized that she _had_ been somewhat less than attentive of everything going on with her friends for a while. No. If she were honest, the better part of the last few years felt more like a colorless, hazy dream than anything else. Good, bad, or somewhere in between, she couldn't remember having felt so alive in a long time... not since the senshi had split, and Ami had gone. Now she followed Ami to the room where she had been staying since returning to Tokyo. It had been maintained by the staff, of course, so there wasn't any dust to be seen in the unassuming little living space. A computer sat on the desk with a small stack of textbooks, and an ornate bed matched with varnished mahogany dresser were the only furniture to be seen. An open door looked into a spacious bathroom with a deep bathtub, the side lined with bottles of wash and lotion.

"Didn't bring much with you, eh?" She asked as Ami started to undress.

"I didn't expect to be here that long," she pointed out, making Makoto grimace. Yellow panties somehow worked for Ami, Makoto noted, which was honestly against her expectations; she wouldn't have pictured the color working for her. However, not even that pleasant discovery could help dilute the taste of disappointment flooding her mouth.

"So, ah, you're probably going to be getting back to your studies soon, then?" She asked, trying to sound casual about it.

"I'm not sure, there's not exactly a hurry at this point, Mako-chan," Ami shook her head after she'd wiggled through the top of a slim little blue dress that hugged her sides and accentuated her slender curves, blossoming out into light ruffles that flowed around her knees. She smoothed the material around her hips. "Everything look okay?" She asked.

"You look great, as usual, Ami-chan," Makoto answered truthfully, but she wasn't in the most optimistic frame of mind--she refused to _allow _herself to be in the most optimistic frame of mind--and only noticed that Ami hadn't actually given her an answer.

"Thanks, Mako-chan. You know, I wonder... perhaps I should mention something about the time I've been able to spend with you, and how great it's been to see you again..." Ami curled a finger over her mouth pensively, and averted her eyes. Makoto bit her lip, even more worried now; that sure sounded like the beginning of a goodbye... "Because that's the most significant factor in my decision. Please put that pouty little lip away," Ami reached up and flipped Makoto's lower lip with her fingertip. "I'm staying, for now."

"Huh?" Makoto's eyes fluttered, and her jaw was just the slightest bit slack. Ami smiled warmly at her, but folded her arms across her chest and affected a stern countenance.

"The lip?"

"What? Oh!" Makoto shook her head, and she laughed shortly. "I'll try," she nodded, smiling broadly.

"You had better. It would get very tiresome living with somebody who went around being mopey all of the time," Ami said, systematically opening drawers and emptying them of her clothing. Makoto froze for a moment.

"Ah, what was that, Ami-chan?"

"I suppose it _would_ be polite to ask, first, wouldn't it?" Ami nodded thoughtfully. "Can I stay at your place for a while, Mako-chan?"

"Ah, um, er..." Makoto coughed and took a breath. "Yeah, sure you can," she said steadily. Looking into blue eyes twinkling with laughter, Makoto had never felt more like a book in her life... but this was one person she didn't mind leafing through her pages.


	12. Chapter 12

Breath. Breath. Breath. Breath.

Air gushed thickly into his lungs like chilled sludge, making their efforts laborious, sending uncontrollable shivers through his muscles, into his heart. Beating, beating, beating, beating, bea... bea...

He staggered. Must not. No stopping, no slowing, just running. Running, running, running. Running through undifferentiated darkness, a richest absence that slapped burning cold against his bare feet. There was nothing, nothing anywhere, nothing everywhere. If nothing was everywhere, than it must be everything, nothing was everything and all the same in its nothingness. Everywhere was anywhere was nowhere, and anywhere was as everywhere which was nowhere, and yet he knew he must keep moving, if only for the discomfort it brought. The sting on his flesh was deliciously welcome, the burn in his lungs, the fear in his heart. All of those things Should Be. He Should feel this discomfort in the nothing, to abandon himself to not feeling these things would be to become the same as everything else here: nothing at all; everything else, nothing else, all that Should Not Be. His legs faltered suddenly again, with a painful spasming of his lungs. What Should Not Be was so much easier than what Should Be, but... but... it Should Not Be, so he must keep running, and maintain himself and all the pain. Himself, the pain. Himself. The pain. The only two things that Should Be in the world that Should Not Be.

Suddenly, both the nothing and the everything vanished, and he found himself seeing only something. Instead of being nowhere that was everywhere, he was somewhere. The chill seeped all through his muscles remained, though he air around him was hot, stiflingly hot. His hand touched a warm metal wall. His chest heaved, a thin sheet clinging to the contours of his torso, plastered on by a cold sweat drenching himself and his bed. The light was dim, but precious to his eyes. Warm, humid air flooded his lungs, dispelling little by little the hellish, inexplicable chill that he felt, that sent shudders through his muscles for several minutes after awakening.

Another nightmare.

He brought a shaking hand up to his face, watching impassively for a few moments as it trembled. He brushed the damp hair from his eyes and off his brow. His stomach felt heavy and gross, as though still filled with black, frozen slime. His throat caught and he jumped out of bed, running to the small bathroom. He bent over the toilet and heaved... heaved... heaved. Nothing came out, but still his stomach spasmed. Panting for breath, the quakes finally left him and he slumped on the sink counter, arms protesting their need to support his weight, but his rubbery legs unable to bear the burden. He waited for what felt like an eternity. Mustering his determination, he forced his feet under him and his knees straight. As though the effort had drained him, he found it necessary to lean back onto the counter, hands to either side of the sink. Warm water gushed from it. His hands cupped the clear liquid and splashed into his face.

It was worse this time. Before there had been tremors, exhaustion, ill-feeling, but this was definitely worse. He stared at his face in the mirror. He knew it was a handsome one, more women than he could conveniently count had proven that to him, even before he had any true power to call his own, this silver tongue handed down to him like a divine gift. It could hardly be described so now, haggard and sweat-plastered, with a gauntness in the cheeks that had had been more pronounced over the months. There was a pallid cast to his flesh that was far removed from the brazen, sensual olive tone that had been his to boast of. He knew once he had a healthy face. It was probably just a sign of stress and hard living, time spent underground. He knew that could be it, but it hardly seemed like it should be so.

Should Be.

Should Not Be.

His eyes met his eyes, and locked into his gaze. A hoarse moan rasped his throat.

"Wha... what? What's happening?" His words bounced on the tiled walls, dancing mockingly around him. His eyes, wide with fear, stared back at him, but he could hardly recognize them as his eyes. The pupils were hideously dilated, though the light was not bothering him. The deep brown was only a thin ring around a black hole that appeared as the darkest night sky that had ever been. White pinholes flecked over the blackness like stars and--be it a trick of the light!--they looked as though they winked at him, dozens of tiny, malicious eyes, winking and twinkling in his head. Angry, deep red lines spider-webbed in the whites, running maroon-dark and touching, connecting to his iris as though feeding this disease... or drawing from it. His teeth ground together, and a hiss blew between them. Somebody must be responsible for this! His fevered mind catapulted forward. Yes, yes, yes. This Should Not Be. He stared into his face, and the stars now glowed like a dim fire, tiny embers smoldering in infinite nothing.

Was he being drugged? Yes. The nightmares, his eyes, the dilation... somebody was tampering with his food. No, he ate the same sealed rations as everybody, nobody could tell which meal he would grab from the store room, and nobody else was falling ill like him. Nobody could poison the water supply, either. But he didn't get everything himself, now did he?

No longer would he request water from even the most trusted aid! Somebody was against him. Somebody considered this migration they had embarked on a failure. This Should Not Be. All of this Should Not Be! Did he not start his glorious campaign to bring about the great change, to make all that Should Be... be?

An idea, it burst into his mind like an explosion, sudden and jarring. The blame, all the blame was to be put to his enemies. That was what needed to be done for him, this was how to make happen to his enemies what Should Not Be. Only for them, no more for him, that was what he needed to do. Let them feel the pain, the horror, the agony of being at the mercy of what Should Not Be.

A cold laugh filled and poured from his lungs like thick, chilled sludge. He shivered, but he smiled. He smiled and laughed, laughed at the feeling, laughed at the futility. Laughed at the hope that had blossomed in his breath, hope that would be entwined forever with terror and a deep, absolute self-loathing. Loathing... a loathing, a hatred that amused him to no end, extending his laugh until far after his breath had gone, his stomach and chest spasming again and again, hurting as much as his nauseous heaving, and the pain only making him laugh ever harder, silent gasps from a raw, fevered throat.

-------------------------------------------------------------

"You think carrying these bags will get us another tough time with security?" Makoto wondered aloud. She had a handful of hangers with various clothes on them slung over her shoulder, and another large suitcase in her other hand. Ami carried another small case of clothing and a bag for her toiletries. Makoto privately thought that were she in Ami's position, she wouldn't want anybody digging through her personal items.

"Who knows?" Ami answered, shrugging, evidently not as concerned, or resigned to the necessity.. They returned to the main hall and approached the first guard station. The slowed as they approached, and Makoto felt a nervousness around the guards that turned their way. Their eyes were wide and alert, and the hands held at their side strayed closer to their belted swords and sidearms than usual. Makoto stopped several paces away from them, knowing that this was more suspicion towards them than was warranted.

"Good day, gentlemen," Ami said cautiously at Makoto's side, also having noticed the strangeness in their demeanor. Makoto was suddenly very aware of every second it would take to let go of the luggage and prepare herself for trouble. She tried to be rational, and stop thinking about that, but she could feel something amiss, and her body knew it. Her fingers loosened on the handle. "Something wrong?" She asked.

"Ah, no, nothing," one guard said. He relaxed, and looked over the both of them. "Names?"

"Mizuno Ami, guest."

"Kino Makoto, likewise."

They offered their I.D. cards.

"Everything looks fine." He almost looked relieved as he handed them their cards back. The other man pursed his lips for a moment, then spoke up himself.

"Say, do you know if anything is, er, going on in there today?"

"What do you mean?" Makoto asked curiously, glad for the chance to know what had had them looking so uptight.

"Sailor Mars came by here just a moment ago, looking like the sky was falling down outside and bursting through with hardly a word tossed our way. I mean, we have new security procedures to follow, but she is the one that brought them up in the first place, so we couldn't exactly hold her up if there was something important." He shrugged. "You don't know anything?"

"Sailor Mars?" Ami furrowed her eyebrows, and looked at Makoto. "She said that she was going to... that place, but I thought it would be a while."

Makoto turned to the guard that had asked, unable to shake the feeling that something was wrong. Even if Rei had left for the shrine so quickly, what would bring her back like this? "Is there a record of her leaving the palace," she asked pointedly.

"Well, probably, if she came back, you know," he said with an annoying tone of obviousness.

"Ah, but didn't Sailor Venus say something about she and the Queen conversing all morning, though, Mako-chan?" Ami lied easily, frowning with false concentration

"Did you now?" The first guard said, eyebrows shooting up. "I'd like to tell you that you were mistaken, but," he turned to his fellow guard. "You heard her, check the logs." He spoke with the unmistakable air of authority; he must have been the superior. Shrugging, the other looked up the information.

"Huh... no, there's no record of her leaving. What are you trying to say, though?"

He got no answer from the pair of women, nor the bags that were dumped in a pile to the ground as they ran swiftly back in the other direction.

Makoto wondered if the guards were following them. She didn't hear any yells for them to stop or cease or whatever it is that guards would shout, but they weren't exactly breaking any of the rules by running this way either. Stealing a glance over her shoulder, she saw them look at one another and start running towards them. They didn't shout or anything still, however, so Makoto assumed that even they had been able to put two and two together and get... something that told them to move.

"Ami-chan, should we transform now? The Palace Guard is probably going to be swarming the area soon."

"Good idea, let's avoid surprising them later, if we do run into trouble."

Sailor Jupiter felt a leaden ball weighing down in her gut. This was something she'd never, ever thought she would have to do. Running past the smooth crystalline walls of the Crystal Palace, legs straining for every ounce of speed she could draw from them as they propelled her to the throne room where her Queen and friends might be threatened. They arrived where they had left Usagi and Rei arguing, deep in the recesses of the Palace. Swearing to apologize later, Jupiter used her forward momentum to lever a brutal kick to a door that might have been felled easily with a fraction of the force it faced. A burst of splinters showered into the room as she entered, the doors slamming into the walls, barely on their hinges. She slowed and looked around, only to see the very last person she expected.

"Ami-chan?" She said dumbly. Ami stood in the Usagi's incongruous intra-Palace sitting room, looking at her fearfully. Jupiter blinked, and whirled around. "Sailor Mercury?" Sailor Mercury was still with her, too. Alarms began blaring; one of those men must have remembered to do that, too. Mercury stepped her way into the room, and blinked several times at herself in the room.

"Mako-chan?" She said.

"What?" Sailor Jupiter replied, only to earn a startled glance from Sailor Mercury. Jupiter's mind was having trouble processing everything that was going on at this point.

"Quick, Mako-chan, you're being tricked, she's an enemy!" A voice from the middle of the room called out. Jupiter looked to see that Ami had transformed to Sailor Mercury, and she had her visor down. "It's producing some kind of sophisticated illusion, get away from it!" Jupiter jumped back from the Sailor Mercury she stood beside, just as that Sailor Mercury looked at her and leaped back, bringing up her visor and looking between Jupiter and... herself? Jupiter was getting rather confused trying to think about it all, and it didn't help when Sailors Mars and Moon ran in from the bedroom.

"Rei-chan?"

"Usagi-chan?"

They both blurted, looking into the room, and then back at one another.

"No... but... I don't get it! Illusions shouldn't be able to fool my visor, unless somebody is creating an illusion of my visor for me? But how, nobody knows how my system works, they couldn't copy it, to put it in front of my eyes or in my mind." Sailor Mercury spoke calmly, and probably to herself, because Jupiter couldn't figure out what she was trying to say.

"Quick, attack it! Please, Mako-chan, kill it before it hurts anybody!" The other Sailor Mercury shouted at her, and Jupiter's head swam dizzyingly for a moment, but she shook the sensation off. This was easy enough to figure out by now, however; everybody's reactions only made sense when Sailor Jupiter figured the person in the middle of the room to be the fake. She set her lips in a thin line, teeth clamped tightly together in outrage at this enemy, at the audacity it had, coming to this place. She raised her arms over her head and began calling her power. The Mercury in the middle of the room hissed, an inhuman sound that was underlaid faintly with a bizarre, rapid-fire clicking noise. Suddenly, the room was full of people. Sailor Jupiter saw more Mercurys, and also her other friends and senshi, and Palace Guards with vague, hazy faces. Something burned her nasal passages, and an annoying, high-pitched whine joined the blare of alarms going on throughout the palace. The walls shimmered and vanished, just as Sailor Jupiter felt her shoulder hit a wall. She hadn't even realized that she'd moved.

"I've got it!" a voice managed to fight its way above the clamor, and a hand grabbed her by the arm. She roughly tore it free and readied to defend herself from her assailant.

"No, wait, Mako-chan, it's me!" It was a Sailor Mercury, but Sailor Jupiter wasn't going to trust her eyes right now.

"Sailor Mercury, Jupiter? What's going on!?" She heard Mars' voice demand, and Moon lent her voice to demands for information as well. An ache formed deep in Jupiter's head and she clenched her eyes shut painfully, only through thin slits seeing the Mercury who had accosted her doing the same, sinking to her knees with her hands at her temples, and the room kept melting around her.

"Jupiter, Flower Hurricane! Do it, now!"

Flower Hurricane? That was maybe the _last_ thing Sailor Jupiter had thought of doing at the moment. It seemed somehow a much better idea to just blast everything and sort it all out later. But the voice was one she trusted with all her heart, so she readied the attack, fervently hoping she weren't making the biggest mistake of her life. Her headache somehow began to fade immediately with the first infusion of sweet flowery scent swirling in the air around her, as well as the burning in her nostrils. Her mind felt clearer, too, and she realized that this just might be the right thing.

"Flower Hurricane!" She flourished her arms in grandiose circles, willing the strong winds to fill the room. The remnants of the front door were blown wide open and the hinges snapped with a sharp crack! The people filling the room wavered and faded, blowing away as flimsy creatures of dust, all but Sailor Mercury with her, her Queen and Mars at the other end, and a glaring Ami still standing in the middle of the room. She... seemed to blur and stretch, a flat cloth snapping in the breeze, revealing something behind. Sailor Jupiter thought she caught glimpses of something distinctly less lovely in appearance than Ami.

"There it is!" Ami called again, get it!"

"Mars Flame Sniper!" A voice hot with anger filled the room, and an arrow dripping flame shot towards the apparition, its aim disregarding absolutely the flowery winds still swirling in the confined space. A pained, hissing screech ground on their ears, and the cloth tore; for a few seconds Sailor Jupiter had an unimpeded view of her enemy. It was grossly insectile, with a bloated abdomen as thick around as a man dragging on the ground and a quadruplet of smooth, glass-like legs emerging from the joint to anchor the thing to the ground. A body like an upturned teardrop grew from there, with segmented "arms" coming out where a person's shoulders might be, and one of those such hung limp and useless at its side, black and dripping some foul fluid. Its face was hideous, flat and expressionless, with something resembling a beak for a mouth, but with twitching, wickedly fanged tusks thrusting out to the sides. All of the creature there was to see, but for its eyes and burn-scarred joint, shimmered with colors all across the spectrum of visible light, almost nauseating as the patterns seemed to shift the eyes down, up, or to the sides, anywhere but to focus on the creature itself. The abdomen pulsed repulsively, and the image wavered as Jupiter felt a renewed burning in her nostrils and the figure wavered again. She drew from reserves of strength and redoubled her efforts on the Flower Hurricane, trying to direct the flow of air towards the creature and then sharply around and out of the ruined door in the room. She could only assume she was succeeding, as the sensations faded and the creature came into sharp focus. Its head jerked around wildly, and with a blinding speed, its legs burst with energy and it vaulted itself towards the doorway. Sailor Jupiter heard a chorus of dismayed voices out there.

She scanned her eyes around the room, which looked like... well, like a windstorm had blown through it. Sailor Mars and Moon, looking shaken, stared back at her from the bedroom doorway, and Mercury was at her side, looking relieved that her plan had proven correct.

"Quick, follow it! We can't let it get into the city, who knows what it might do!" Sailor Mercury said firmly, startling the rest of them into action. Just as Jupiter began her spring to the entrance, however, a calm voice yelled from the hallway.

"Venus Love-Me Chain!"

Jupiter ran out into the hall and saw the glowing links fly across her vision. Whirling around, she followed their path through the air towards the hideous thing, which was perched in a corner of the high ceiling. It fired it's limbs again to leap away, further down the hall, but Sailor Venus' chain caught one of its legs in a secure grip. All of its impressive velocity was suddenly arced, the creature sent hurtling back to the ground with a crunching thud that sent vibrations through the floor all the way to where Jupiter was standing. It tried to level itself up with obvious difficulty, several limbs ruined and fluid leaking from breaches in its shell. Mandibles twitching, it screeched its pain fury to its captor.

"Crescent Beam!" Was the reply Venus offered. A tightly focused beam of energy shot from her extended finger with unerring accuracy, right into the wide-open beak. The screech stopped abruptly. The Crescent Beam went further than the neat, round, smoking hole in the creature's skull--or whatever it had that passed for one--to carve a respectable gouge from the wall behind it.

"Ah... good job." Sailor Jupiter in the following calm. She shifted her eyes to see Sailor Venus' serious, determined face, just in time to see it shatter entirely.

"What the heck was that thing! It was _so_ _ugly_, do you know what it's like to have something like that just suddenly jump out at you while you're just running down the hall!?"

Sailor Jupiter stood disbelievingly as the Senshi of Love and Beauty looked at her with stricken, watery eyes and lunged at her, burying her face against her chest. "Um, there there?" Jupiter said lamely. She shrugged helplessly, glancing behind her to see the other senshi staring, and reached an arm around to pat Venus on the back. A number of Palace Guards stood nervously about, Sailor Jupiter noticed, some rising from the floor, some walking in from side passages; somewhere between two or three dozen, weapons drawn and all of them shaking like chihuahuas in ice-water. They all focused on the first vision of security they could identify.

"Sailor Mars!" One saluted, and the rest followed.

"My Queen!" They all added, unable to hide the quality in their voice that made it sound like an afterthought. Jupiter raised an eyebrow and caught Sailor Mars' eyes. Her friend colored only just noticeably, and hid it in arranging her hair all blown awry. As was often the case, military tended to trust its own above the political leaders, when in doubt.

"It's all right, men. The threat has been removed."

"Sailor Mars?" Mercury voiced tentatively.

"Yes?"

"The Palace employed Professor Tomoe to head genetics research, right? I think we might want to get his input on this."

"Right. You, corporal, get somebody to fetch the Professor. The rest of you, back to your posts, we have the situation under control."

"Yes, ma'am!" The guards, thankful for some direction that didn't lead to giant, screeching murder bugs, marched smartly off.

"Uh, Venus?" Sailor Jupiter finally said after a few minutes of her waterworks. Sailor Venus stopped sobbing dramatically against her chest with surprising alacrity, and looked up at her with a twinkle in her eye.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Sailor Jupiter," she said loudly enough for the others to hear, but in a softer voice that was for Jupiter's ears alone, she whispered: "If it were Ami-chan, I wonder how long you would keep her in your arms? Jeez, am I the only one who notices these things? I suppose I am the Senshi of Love, after all." She pushed herself away and walked with apparent reluctance to the monster she had felled. "So, any idea what the heck this thing is?"

"Dead?" Mars suggested blandly. "I'm not going to try and guess anything. Professor Tomoe is on the way, and he's our expert."

"So what do we do, just stand here with it and wait for him?"

"You can go if you want to, Venus," Sailor Moon allowed. "Really, the only people that need to be here are myself and Sailor Mercury, and I only need to be here for appearances. The Queen can't just run off, now can she? I'm sure Mercury has a few things that she'll want to tell the Professor when he gets here."

Sailor Mercury nodded an affirmative. In that case, Sailor Jupiter had a reason to stay too. Seeing that neither Jupiter nor Mars made move to go, Sailor Venus just shrugged and remained. Perhaps a quarter of an hour or so later one of the Guard stepped smartly in and saluted.

"Your Majesty, Professor Tomoe is just behind me, as requested. Er, there are also three others with him; I'm not sure if this is acceptable, but the Senshi would not be refused and, er, they have rank."

"Senshi?" Sailor Moon echoed, eyes widening with apprehension. The senshi all tensed and Mercury, Jupiter, and Venus jumped over to protect Sailor Moon from what they feared was another attack. Perhaps not doing a great deal of credit to his station, but displaying a remarkable prudence, the Palace Guard hastily removed himself from between the door and the Senshi guarding the Queen.

"My, you ever get the feeling that our welcomes only get colder as time goes by?"

"How fortunate it is that I'm forever warm in your company, then."

They stepped through the doorway, looking about as concerned as tigers in a bunny pen. An openly wry, challenging grin met them from a face that seemed made to pierce through adversity. All hard lines and angles from her sloping cheeks to her pointed nose, gentled only by the soft amusement in her eyes, Sailor Uranus rubbed a nonchalant hand through her swath of tawny blonde hair. At her side, as always and as would ever be, stepped the graceful Sailor Neptune. Though they often seemed very different from one another, there was a faintly mocking quality to her little, demure smile that betrayed the same amusement with their reception that her lover shared.

"Uranus, Neptune!" Moon said happily, all thoughts of danger forgotten at the sight of two not oft-seen friends. Or, so she considered them, while Jupiter and the rest of the Inner Senshi tended to settle more comfortably on "allies," given the pair of Outer Senshi's own tendency to express less than warm affections for them all.

"Hold on, Sailor Moon. How do we know this isn't some other trick?" Sailor Mars stepped forward challengingly.

In response, Uranus rolled her eyes and sighed in exasperation. "I told you--"

"Yes, you told me. Let's just get it over with," Neptune interrupted her with a finger on her lips.

"Straight to business today, hmmm?" Uranus spoke around Neptune's hand, dipping her head closer and and allowing her lips to graze the glove. "That can be fun too, sometimes."

"You know," Sailor Venus whispered in a low voice that only Jupiter, whom she stood beside, could hear, "I think we get it, they do the unclothed tango with one another on a regular basis, do you think they'll ever get tired of all of... this?"

Sailor Jupiter smiled tightly, but she was still with Mars on this on, and wasn't prepared to trust any unexpected arrivals just yet.

"Here," Uranus said, seriously now. A short, broad, curved sword appeared in her hands, at the same time a mirror materializing in Neptune's. They tossed them towards Sailor Moon. Mars caught the sword dexterously by the handle, while Mercury managed to grasp the mirror.

"What do you think, my Queen," Sailor Neptune called out. "Do these verify us?"

Wordlessly and before Sailor Mars could argue, Moon reached out and touched both items. Just faintly, at the edge of her hearing, Sailor Jupiter thought she heard a faint thumping in a rhythmic, steady staccato. After a few minutes it became clear: the sound of two heartbeats, just out of sync, thrumming through the room and her mind and soul. Sailor Moon smiled gently, and took her hands off the items, the sound or feeling, whatever it was, fading with the contact.

"It's them," the Queen assured them. "Those are the evidences of Sailor Uranus and Neptune's pure hearts."

"Sailor Moon, are you sure?" Mars asked intently, while Makoto echoed the question internally.  
"Absolutely. You can't fake _that._ Surely you all felt it?"

Sailor Jupiter nodded grudgingly, and saw the others doing the same.

"I take it we've passed the test, then?" Uranus butted in. "I suppose all our late hours studying paid off then," she directed to Sailor Neptune.

"Studying, is that what you call it?" She said with laughing eyes and a buried heat for Uranus alone.

"Now look..." Sailor Mars grumbled, rubbing her eyes with a thumb and forefinger. "Did you have anything important to say or do, or were you just going to impress us all with the depth of your devotion to one another today?"

"Isn't that important?" Uranus replied, eyebrows shot up as though surprised. Thankfully, Sailor Neptune appeared prepared to stick to her earlier willingness to take care of business.

"Now that you've accepted us, we would like to vouch for another, that none of us had seen in quite some time. She's rather upset, but try not to let that scare you, she's really just a softy on the inside."

"I don't need your introductions, Neptune." Sailor Jupiter was even more surprised now than she had been at the appearance of Uranus and Neptune. The brazen voice matched the woman that entered next, her deep bronze skin standing out starkly from the pure whiteness of her uniform.

"S-Sailor Pluto?" Sailor Moon greeted her with a great deal more apprehension and less enthusiasm than she had the other two.

"What in the Solar System have you all been doing in this section of time?" The tall, imposing woman demanded, punctuating her statement with the clash of her staff to the ground. She stormed forward, heedless of the ring of defensive Senshi surrounding the Queen. Sailor Jupiter saw a frightful cold fury in the set of her mouth, but what was of far more concern was the betrayal of a stark fear deep in her eyes.

"What's been going on, give me information!" She glanced at the insect-monster's corpse still laying in the hallway and her face darkened. "Is there some new threat? This entire section of the time line has obscured itself to me. Me, the Guardian of Time! It's never happened before. The stream has branched, twined, braided, and otherwise obfuscated itself to anything but centuries of painstaking observation, but this is the only time in my knowledge that a section of a time line has darkened. It's black right now, and I have no idea what that means, other than a surety that it's nothing good. My Queen, with all respect, you had better have this situation under control."

She stared intently into Sailor Moon's eyes. For a moment she reacted just as Sailor Jupiter would always have expected Usagi to react. Her eyes widened in fright and guilt, and ducked down from the Senshi of Time's gaze. From somewhere deep inside, though, she found a pocket of courage, for she raised her head again. They glinted like flat blue stones, hard and regal and unflinching, meeting Pluto's equally unshakable gaze.

The stare-down continued for several tense breaths. "Is this a bad time to interrupt? Perhaps I could go back to my quarters until you have need of my services, my Queen?" His was a quiet voice, but not a weak one. It would be a remarkably self-assured person, confronted with the sudden company of all but one of the Senshi of the Solar System, and in the middle of a squabble no less, to be altogether at ease, but he still cut a far more comfortable figure than many lesser men would have. Professor Tomoe somehow managed to look exactly the same as any other time Sailor Jupiter had seen him. The first thing the eyes recognized, his brilliant shock of anachronistic white hair, still hung simply cut around his head and brow, seeming to lend him an element of timelessness. Lines still hadn't touched his youthful face, and most people would have had a difficult time pinpointing his age. He was dressed simply in his knee-length white lab coat and a plain button-up shirt and slacks on beneath.

"No, Professor. Sailor Pluto was just about to stand down and behave civilly amongst her friends and allies, while I address her concerns. For that, we're going to need your opinion on a few things. Now then, Pluto?" The Senshi of Time's chocolate complexion darkened further, but the sense of the words, and probably something in the Queen's bearing, had their effect. Sailor Pluto stepped back and inclined her head in stiff apology before she strode back to the other Outers.

"Were you going to discuss matters calmly here, or in more a more scenic environment? I'm assuming that this," the Professor pointed at the crumpled form of the creature, "Is the reason I was called here. If your business might take a while, I'd like to get a few people up here to gather the specimen and take better care of it."

"This may take a while, so please do," Sailor Moon nodded her acquiescence.

While Tomoe excused himself, Sailor Moon stepped out of her protective circle of friends and walked down the hallway without preamble. A half-step ahead of Sailor Jupiter and her companions, the Outers followed her. Sailor Jupiter stepped heavily, the memory of Sailor Pluto's troubled face and words hanging grim on her shoulders. Somewhat to her surprise, Moon led them into the throne room. Without changing her calm, graceful pace, she ascended the few stairs up to her seat and sat down, a light shimmering over her and spinning itself out into a ruffled gown.

"I wish this reunion could have been under less dire circumstances, Sailor Pluto, but joyful happenings can hardly be expected to herald a rare visit from the Guardian of Time. It still gladdens my heart to see you again, however, and to find you well."

"Would that time needed no Guardian, and that I could gladden your heart more often, my Queen." Sailor Pluto walked forward and bowed deeply, holding her staff before her in a timeless gesture of fealty and respect. Then she raised her head with a less formal smile. "You're getting good at this, Usagi."

"I've been practicing," Usagi admitted with a warm, appreciative smile. "I confess that I do not enjoy it altogether too much, but it's nice to know I can do it well."

"I know you can, because I know you have--or will, rather."

"Oh stop, before you give me a headache. Now, as we mentioned, there are dire circumstances about. I think our formality here makes up for before, so let's get to it.."

"This section of the stream of time has become polluted," Sailor Pluto stated immediately, though more calmly than before. "I apologize for my... brusqueness before, but I'm very troubled by this. It had not happened before, that any section of time had become obscured from my sight by simple darkness. It's not the haze of an indeterminate future or the gnarled bramble of possibility, which I've seen many times. It's just... it shouldn't be like this. It doesn't make sense. Worried, I entered this section of the stream... and found the sun still shining and the world mostly at peace, the glory of the Silver Millennium working steadily to bring prosperity to the solar system. Yet still, my vision of time in this place was blind. Neptune and Uranus quickly found me, concerned at my arrival, and we started then for the Palace, where I discovered you and the Senshi in a battle never seen in my watch over time. Everything following that you know."

"And now you believe the two may be connected?" Sailor Mercury spoke aloud the thoughts of everybody in the room.

"Yes. Now please, tell me the story of this time, what's going on now, who is this enemy?"

"Originally, we thought it was mundane," Usagi started. Then she frowned, as though searching for the correct words. "Sailor Mars, perhaps you should explain the situation to Sailor Pluto. You've been more intimately involved with policy and information than I have been."

Sailor Mars looked surprised, but recovered swiftly. "Ah, sure, Usagi-chan, I'd be happy to." She turned to the waiting Senshi. "It all started some months ago with a relatively small-scale terror attack in Crystal Tokyo. Their objective, in the aftermath, appeared to have been the demise of at least one Senshi--which they almost accomplished. Only blind luck saved Sailor Jupiter, who was then able to assist Mercury in apprehending the culprits. After questioning them, everything pointed to an utterly human, if still quite dangerous, threat. Volunteering for the opportunity, Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Mercury headed for the South American country of Brazil, going on information from the terrorists, to hunt down more information. To keep this long story short, they were forced to flee after being outmaneuvered in the enemy's headquarters, and attacked by a... a youma. They escaped, and came back here. Nothing else of significance happened in the meantime--besides the fiercest scrutiny of our administration since its founding as we weren't able to do anything--until they returned, and this attack occurred."

"So, in essence, you're floundering in the dark. Suiting, given Pluto's vision," Uranus said bluntly, lip twisted in distaste.

Mars bristled, but Jupiter found herself reluctantly agreeing. Even after all this time, they were still floundering around, blinded by ignorance and secrecy. Nonetheless, she recalled with a twist of her lip...

"So what?" Sailor Jupiter thrust out her chin defiantly at the Senshi of the Sky. "It's not like we haven't been in this situation before. How often were we absolutely clueless as to the identity of our enemy? How often did we have to piece together their goals and motivations on the fly, never knowing when to expect another plan or attack, never knowing which seemingly innocent person would suddenly reveal themselves as an enemy, never knowing which truly innocent person would fall victim to them? We've made it through before, and we can do it again. But no, please, don't listen to me. Just jump in after we've done all the work and disparage our efforts, like always." Allies and friends they might be, Sailor Jupiter thought, but that pair of Outer Senshi had always managed to push all the right buttons to raise her ire.

"Still a hothead, huh? I might have thought a few years of cooling your heels in peaceful Crystal Tokyo would blunt your edge. Glad to see that isn't the case, but you'd better be prepared to back those words up in the future, when I'm not in such a good mood." Sailor Uranus' eyes flashed dangerously, and Sailor Jupiter could remember only too well the solid, breathtaking, absolutely humiliating blow she'd taken from this selfsame Senshi years before. Fear wasn't a part of her equation, however.

"I'm prepared now, and I will be then. My words won't go away, so if you're ever in a bad mood, please look me up."

"Are you all done bickering, then?" A harsh voice coming from a most uncharacteristic source silenced them, and they looked into Usagi's glowering gaze. "There are more important matters at hand."

"Perhaps, but I don't feel that two more sets of hands grasping helplessly in the same spot will accomplish more than the dozen others already engaged. I think that we should leave, and do what we can in our own way, on our own terms. We work best this way, my Queen." Neptune spoke politely, and her face was a mask of neutrality. Turning on heel without waiting for any reply from Usagi, she walked back the way she had come. Casting one last glance at Sailor Jupiter and at the Queen, her own face composing itself, Sailor Uranus followed. Sailor Pluto stayed.

"My Queen, I'll apologize on behalf of the other Outers, but I must agree with them at some level: dividing our forces seems the best way to cover ground. I operate best with them, for all the occasion we've worked together, so I'll be going their way. Thank you for your assistance." With a short bow, Sailor Pluto excused herself as well. Everybody in the room breathed more easily after the tension had melted in their wake.

"Sailor Jupiter," Usagi started in a slightly disapproving tone, "Did you really have to--"

"Yes. If they want to go work on their own now, fine, at least they're doing something. I'm not going to have them come in and lash at you and everybody else, while they've been out doing who-knows-what secret 'Outer' things for months. If she believes they could handle this so well, she should have been _doing_ it instead of flapping her jaw at us." She looked directly into Usagi's eyes, and her Queen must have seen the implacable surety that Jupiter felt, because she dropped the matter.

"Fine, let it be only us five--six--eight--again," Usagi stopped for a moment, and started counting off on her fingers as she muttered, "Four of you, me, Mamoru, Luna and Artemis... right. Yes, let it be just eight of us, and we're no worse off than minutes before." Usagi smiled, pleased with herself, and her friends all smiled, feeling somehow more confident.

At that precise time, as though he had been hiding from sight until the obvious signs of danger had passed, Tomoe stepped back into the room. "The specimen is under preliminary examination now. Shall I send you updates periodically?"

"Yes, please. Wait! Actually," Usagi's eyes glanced surreptitiously over to Sailor Mercury. "I'll give you an address to send the report to later; I'd like it going to somebody who can get more out of it than myself. Professor Tomoe, are you sure this isn't inconveniencing you? You haven't spoken a word of protest since you were called."

"In all reality, Your Highness, this _is_ my job. My other research won't go anywhere, and this is bound to be fascinating."

"I'm happy you think so. Then please, organize your reports at your discretion, whenever you feel you've discovered something noteworthy. I'll provide that address shortly, so you may get to work at your desire."

"I desire this moment, my Queen. I'll be going now."

"Thank you, Professor."

Bowing, he left the room.

"Sailor Mercury--"

"I know, Usagi-chan. Just give him an anonymous address and forward it to my secure Palace e-mail. I'll report the practicalities of the information to Rei-chan and yourself so you can decided what we do next."

"Excellent. Now then, some royal pronouncements. Everybody, do just what you were going to do before. Including Sailor Mars retreating to her family shrine, and Venus filling in for her in the Palace workings." Usagi looked at the ceiling for a long moment, and sighed. "Heaven help me without you, Mars, and also the Palace Guard under Minako-chan's directives."

Sailor Mars' eyes widened in shock, and she shot a suspicious glare at Venus. "Hey, you don't need to--"

"Don't worry, don't worry!" Sailor Venus assured her. "I won't change a thing. Geez, Usagi-chan," she pouted at her Queen.

"Just trying to be fair," Usagi grinned cheekily. "Now, Jupiter, Mercury, you heard me earlier. No more working, or else! In fact, you already disobeyed by coming to save my life after I gave you orders to vacation--you better not let it happen again!" Usagi pouted, pursing her lips comically. Sailor Jupiter couldn't help it, she had to laugh, and heard Mercury's laughter chiming as well.

"I'll try, Usagi-chan, I promise."

"You had better."

"Shall we, Ami-chan?" Makoto asked, clothes falling comfortably back over her limbs.

"We shall." Ami answered. "I do hope my belongings haven't fallen too far into the Palace bureaucracy at this point," she added, a fretful frown on her lips.

"Let's go see." Makoto smiled thankfully to her Queen. No matter what, Usagi was good for raising her friend's spirits, and Makoto's was flying high above the clouds even while her mind stayed firmly earthbound, wrestling with all the problems that faced them. Even as she had said in anger, though, she felt calmly. They had surmounted every challenge issued them before, led by their Queen's indomitable spirit and their own fierce love for her and their fellow Senshi. This would be no different.

Ami hooked their arms together at the elbow and pulled her down the hall, and back into reality. Makoto's euphoria was blissful for all of a few moments, but came to a sudden end on the way back to the entrance she had deposited Ami's belongings at. Eyes downcast, a motionless figure stood in the middle of the hallway. His stark black and white, impeccably formal attire seemed utterly out of place in the colorful, glittering surroundings. His gloved hands hung loosely at his sides, one lightly grasping a black top hat, the other with a slim white mask held absently between two fingers. At the sound of their footsteps he looked up, but Makoto couldn't be sure at first if he were looking at them, really, so faraway was the expression on his face. Then he smiled somberly, and his eyes focused on them.

"Is everything alright, then?" Mamoru asked in hardly more than a whisper.

"As far as I know," Makoto answered truthfully, and narrowed her eyes. "What's the matter with you, Princey?"

"Not a thing. After all, I wasn't even _there_, how could I get hurt? I was too late."

"Er, but everything _is_ fine, Mamoru-san," Ami said gently. "Usagi-chan wasn't hurt, so you weren't really too late for anything."

"That's nice of you to say, Ami-chan," he said, seeming to withdraw into himself again. Makoto shared a glance with Ami, but thy were both equally at loss by now. Without another word nor a glance to the two of them, he started walking away.

Makoto instinctively took a step after him, but stopped an looked uncertainly towards Ami.

"Go ahead, I can get my own things." Ami smiled. "He obviously needs some kind of jump-start, and you've been rather good at that in the past."

"You remember the way back to my apartment?"

"I do, but I wasn't planning on packing everything over there myself; I'll wait in the reception hall." Ami smiled sweetly.

"See you soon." Makoto jogged in the direction Mamoru had gone. Combined with his slow pace, she caught up in just a few seconds. Pulling astride with him, she leaned forward to look squarely into his eyes and fix him with her best, "What the hell is the matter with you?" look.

It had a frustratingly limited effect--which is to say, none--so she opened her mouth to try and accomplish the same thing.

"Hey, Mamoru, what the hell is the matter you?"

"Nothing, Mako-chan," he answered promptly. Makoto was taken aback for a moment, as she'd half-expected him to keep doing his zombie impression, but she recovered in time to sniff and roll her eyes.

"Okay, what the hell is the matter with somebody else?"

"I don't believe there's anything wrong with another person, either, Mako-chan. You did say that everybody was okay, did you not?"

"Mamoru, I like you, but I suddenly find myself more fond of the notion of hitting you. Can we try this over again?"

"If I say no, will you go away?" Mamoru slid his eyes to the side, and Makoto could see his forehead bunch as his brows knit together.

"Of course not," she replied indignantly, as though he had--and he _had_--deliberately disregarded her obvious threatening. "I might trip you, though," she added as an afterthought.

He closed his eyes with what Makoto felt was an exaggerated sufferance. "Fine. Follow me. I don't feel like talking in the middle of the hallway."

"No deal, unless you walk faster," Makoto replied. He didn't answer, but she thought she saw the corner of his lips tug upwards slightly, and his pace increased a few steps.

He took her farther back into the Palace than she had ever been, if only for lack of a reason to go there. She assumed he was taking her back to his quarters. An possibly irreverent thought struck her on the way, thinking about how relatively close Usagi's private sanctuary was to the throne room. It _would_ be just like their characteristically lazy friend to give herself the shortest route between work and bed, wouldn't it? Or, she supposed, it could be just like their mysterious, gentlemanly Tuxedo Mask to have the room in the back of the castle. In the end, the most likely of all the possibilities to her was that she was thinking far too much about it, really.

Mamoru abruptly stopped in the middle of a hallway that looked the same as any other in the Palace, and turned to open a door that likewise looked the same as the others spaced evenly throughout. Where he opened to, however, was anything but commonplace. Makoto had to blink several times with a sudden infusion of light, and her eyes widened as she looked over the inside. He had opened into a large stairwell; the walls, rails, and steps were made of the same milky stone, shining all over like purest alabaster but for where light hit it just right, and rainbow tones washed over spots in gentle curves. The appearance was reminiscent of light pooled over a dark oil and gave the material a feeling of softness and fluidity, rather than the hardness of the stone she could feel undeniably beneath her feet.

With a flourish of his cape that he probably wasn't even aware of, Mamoru mounted the steps. Makoto followed, raising her eyes up to see the top of the stairway, and quickly had to duck her eyes down. Little spots of color swam in front of them as they smarted from the brilliance of the opening. Grimacing, she kept her eyes down and let them adjust. Her legs began to protest as the number of steps lengthened, but she had been planning on getting into a reconditioning routine soon, anyway, so she ignored it and considered it a head start.

"Watch your step, we're close to the top," Mamoru said, his voice somehow surprising her in contrast to his silence until then.

Makoto smiled wryly. He'd probably guessed that she was either blinded or looking away; she wondered how many other people had come up this way behind him and been put in the same predicament? She guarded her eyes and looked up, surmounting the top of the stairs gracefully, but still squinted in the sun-like brilliance of wherever she had arrived. Though she was fairly certain her eyes were seeing everything properly now, she still felt as though she had to rub them and verify, because she suddenly found herself... .back in the Brazilian rain forest?

No. She dismissed that immediate, frightening conclusion her mind had leaped to. This was a... garden? Yes, it was, she realized, marveling. They stood on a simple cobblestone path, lined on both sides with rosebushes, and trees could be seen here and there standing watch on this little road. All offered a welcome shade, and some hung heavy with fruit ripe for harvest, others bare or with immature offerings. Looking closer at the bushes, she also spied the occasional berry patch among the roses, too. The air was perfumed with flowers and sweetness, and an absence of a low, earthy loam scent told her that this place was kept as meticulously clean as a Palace garden could be expected to be. Above her, she realized with a wry grin, were a few light, puffy clouds and the unbarred light of the pale yellow sun, which explained the sun-like brightness to an entirely reasonable degree.

"You like it?" Mamoru asked simply.

"It's great. Can I assume this is where you wanted me to follow you to?"

"Almost. There's a little area ahead that's a bit more comfortable. In the shade, too, which is good when you're wearing black." He pulled at his collar in demonstration.

"Any reason you don't just change out of that?" Makoto asked curiously.

"Ah--" he stopped where he stood, and looked sheepishly back at her. "Would you believe I hadn't even thought of it? I never did that when anybody was watching, you know. Old habit."

Makoto was surprised that the process wasn't much different than their own. Her eyes just kind of--_slid_--out of focus for a moment, and then she was focusing on him again, and it was just Mamoru in plain clothes.

"That's better," he admitted. "But I'd still like to move forward."

They walked along the path, and his destination became clear. Though this place had seemed at first glance to be massive, it was really just a trick of coming in from an enclosed environment. It was certainly large, of course, perhaps around the same size as a quarter-mile track, but nothing like the expanse that she had been slammed with initially. A short way down the path and down one fork was a quadruplet of trees: a cheerful apple tree hanging with healthy red fruit, a strong and vibrant young oak that was only at the beginning of a long life, a graceful and colorful maple lending a sweet scent to the air, and a somber winter sakura that was just beginning to bud in preparation for a flowering; Makoto's gaze lingered on the last for a little longer than the rest. The amount of time she had actually spent with Ami in Brazil somehow seemed more apparent now, with this evidence of autumn right around the corner. A simple wooden swing hung from a stout branch of the oak, the rope looking weathered and well-used. A bench of stone sat just off the path--with padded seating and backing. Apparently authenticity could only be taken to certain degrees, Makoto thought with a smile, there weren't a whole lot of benches that comfortable in most parks. She shrugged, and took a seat on the swing. Mamoru actually laughed, then, watching as she started kicking herself back and forth.

"You're looking more cheerful now, Mamoru," she noted, "But I'm still expecting an explanation for your attitude. You can't worry your friends like that."

"You're one to talk, Mako-chan. If you did the same thing nobody would bother you, for fear of being tossed over the Palace wall."

"Well that's the difference between you and I, now isn't it?" Makoto answered tartly, but with a smile.

"Then I'll chance getting away with a simple explanation," Mamoru answered, raising his hands in defeat. He sat himself on the bench, stretching his arms over the back of it and craning his head to face upwards and soak in the sun, his eyes closed.

"Mako-chan, what is it you remember me best for, since we first knew one another?"

"What do you mean, exactly?" Makoto asked, raising an eyebrow.

"What is it that Tuxedo Mask does, what can he be _counted_ on to do?"

"Oh, that? You mean the leaping in to save the day, cape aflutter and some wordy moral reprimand prepared?"

"They weren't prepared!" He said defensively, looking injured. Makoto laughed.

"Never mind, then. You mean arriving in the nick of time to save Sailor Moon, then." She amended with poorly-concealed smile.

"Exactly. And where was I just now, when she might have needed saving?" He asked pointedly, averting his eyes and sighing.

"Ah, running down the hallway?" She said, somewhat unnecessarily. Mamoru winced, but nodded with a dry, rueful chuckle.

"Right. My U... my Queen is in danger, and I'm not there. What does that say about me, when I've always been there before--when I was alive and breathing, at any rate." He looked positively angry now, but Makoto could hear readily enough that it was mostly directed inward.

"That the law of probability finally came into effect?" Makoto said somewhat flippantly, trying to alleviate some of his apparent guilt. "There's no reason to feel all that badly, Mamoru, you can only run as fast as you can."

"That's the thing, though, Mako-chan," he said insistently, looking her in the eye. "What if I wasn't...." he broke off, paused for a moment, and exhaled explosively. He collected himself, and seemed to raise an internal brace. "What if I hesitated, even without knowing it? What if my step was slower than it might have been before, back when I was, and she was... we were...?" He broke again, and his expression changed again. He looked curiously at Makoto. "For that matter, how much do you know about Usako and myself? You've been somewhat distant yourself for a while, as I recall. In face... it's amazing that I hadn't noticed it before, but I can hardly remember the last time you and I spoke to one another."

Makoto flushed guiltily, but kept her expression resolute. "True enough, I have been off in my own little world," she admitted freely, refusing to change this into an argument about her. "I've heard what might amount to a rumor, though, about, erm, Usagi-chan and Rei-chan being, well..."

"Lovers?" Mamoru supplied. Makoto nodded.

"But, how?" Makoto asked before she could stop herself.

"I... suffice to say that after a while, some things became increasingly clear to us both. Would you mind some brevity on my part?" He asked simply, and she shook her head. Short and sweet was fine with her. "We are incarnations of the prince and princess--and the senshi--that died a thousand years ago. However, we are not them. We resemble them impeccably in appearance, and share a good deal of their temperament, their proclivities, and have echoes of their old relationships in our own feelings towards one another; But, and this needs to be stressed, we are _not_ them." He seemed to falter after that, as though he'd only planned this far. Makoto waited patiently, and started to fidget on the swing while waiting for him to continue. Finally, she had to prod him.

"So, what does this mean? The real you and the real Usagi aren't actually in love?" He looked up at her, surprised and chagrined.

"If only it were that simple, Mako-chan. Apparently, the undying and eon-spanning love between Endymion and Serenity does not disappear so easily. I can still feel it beating inside me, begging for her touch, her words, just her presence..." he quieted, a faraway, wistful cast to his dark eyes. He closed them, and when they opened again them again they were dark and stony. "However, inside I know that it isn't Chiba Mamoru feeling that. It's Endymion... and though I _am_ Endymion, that's not _all_ of me, just as the Princess isn't all of who Usagi is."

"So, what happened?" Makoto pressed. "If the feeling is still so strong, couldn't you just...?" She left the question unvoiced.

"We struggled with it for a while. Wondered what this facet of our lives would mean for us. In truth, nothing happened. Nothing, anyway, that Usagi or I did; were nothing else to have intervened, we may very well have just continued in as much love as we could readily feel for one another. However, that's not what happened. I'm not privy to the specifics, but apparently Rei-chan had a hidden affection for Usagi that was finally brought to light. I could tell it tore her up inside--it tore _me_ up inside, for sure--but she said that something in her heart told her that the love she found with Rei was more right than ours together."

"So you split up, and Usagi started a relationship with Rei." Makoto raised her eyebrows, and looked thoughtfully at the bright red apples hanging suspended above, somehow reminded of a similarly colored bow sitting atop a head of golden hair. "So where does Minako-chan come in?" She decided to toss in swiftly, to catch him off-guard, and watched him closely for his reaction, but she didn't expect it to take the form that it did.

Mamoru barked out a laugh. "Wow, for somebody that's been in her own little world, you picked up on ours quickly enough."

"She's not exactly subtle," Makoto pointed out. "At least not enough for Ami-chan, who's the one that actually pointed it out to me," Makoto amended, thinking of Ami's shrewd, teasing questions.

"As you say, subtle she is not. Minako showed up as thoughtlessly and suddenly as a warm summer breeze after she'd caught on to the happenings, telling me outright that I was now officially 'fair game.' I wasn't entirely sure how to respond, but I certainly didn't feel like jumping headfirst into a relationship, and told her as much."

"She ignored you, didn't she?" Makoto guessed. He nodded.

"Of course. She grew on me, though. Minako is rather like Usagi--I think we've all noticed that before, at one time or another--but she's definitely her own person, all the same, and she turned out to be a person I enjoy spending time with. Love with Usagi was like a fairytale, but life with Minako... makes living so very, very real."

Makoto observed the look in his eyes, and had a sudden burst of intuitive insight. "Mamoru, what was on your mind earlier today, when you were hanging around in your little garden?"

She hoped to surprise him, but didn't expect him to actually blush and start, looking guiltily down at the ground.

"Wh-what does that have to do with anything?" He said weakly.

"You probably should have put on a grave, foreboding expression instead," Makoto noted clinically, "And said something like, 'I would... rather not speak of that.' If you instead choose to appears as a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar, I'm going to make you tell me."

"Mm," Mamoru made a stubborn noise.

"You just took me up a rather nice staircase, Mamoru. I can always toss you back down it."

"Minako," he said softly. "Yes, I was thinking about her."

"You're such an idiot, you know that?" Makoto said, rolling her eyes. "That's really the reason you've got your cape in a knot, isn't it? Get over it, you didn't 'betray' or 'fail' anybody by spending some time alone thinking about your new girlfriend. How do you feel about Usagi now?"

"I... I love her, I suppose," he said simply, clearly startled by her torrent of words. "The same as I love the rest of you?" He shrugged. She rolled her eyes.

"Duh. I find it really hard to believe that Tuxedo Mask would falter on the way to save one of his friends, whether he was lovey-dovey with them or not. If you want to angst about it now, feel free, that's your prerogative, but you have one vote for 'silly ass' on that course of action." There was a moment of silence.

"Is this the part where I'm supposed to say thank you for knocking some sense into me?" Mamoru asked wryly, but he was smiling. "I don't know that I could manage that much, as I'm a little upset after being called three different kinds of foolish, but I suppose I can see where you're coming from."

"I'm sure you can," she replied, exasperated. "I don't exactly make any _secret_ of where I'm coming from."

"That you don't," he nodded. "However, while I'd gladly sit through some more abuse and welcome the opportunity to talk your ear off, I recall you have somewhere else to be at the moment."

Makoto frowned, wondering if she'd _really_ gotten through to him, but realized there was only so much she could do. "That's one of the few sensible things you've told me today, Mamoru. If I hear later that you've been moping again, though, I might have to come for a return visit."

"That's a very good incentive to cheer up," he nodded with a soft smile. Makoto took a few steps away, but stopped in the middle of the path. Not bothering to turn around, she spoke to the air, loudly enough for him to hear her.

"Hold on, one more thing. If she _is_ still a dear, loved friend, you might try treating her like one. Somebody has to take that first step, and you're supposed to be the man here, right?"

Makoto left him sitting on the bench, not chancing even a glance back to see if her words had affected him. Indeed, she hardly chanced a glance anywhere, eyes lazily watching her feet place themselves one before the other as she turned her attention to her own mind now brimming with information and curiosity. Mamoru's words, those aside from Minako and his own malaise, had brought to mind something she'd ever really thought about very deeply: her connection with the Senshi from so long ago. Sailor Jupiter was... almost something more like a job or a title to her, an alter-ego to hide her _true _identity. Makoto hadn't given any thought to the person who had shared this existence with her, other than holding a vague awareness that she had, in fact, existed. She found herself wondering idly, as she walked down the winding staircase, what the old Jupiter's relationship had been with Mercury.

"Mako-chan?"

Makoto stopped short at the door, almost colliding with Minako, who was stepping quickly in the other direction.

"Oh--is he okay?" Minako asked her intently, eyes wide with trepidation. It took Makoto a few moments to gather herself and realize what Minako was asking her.

"Uh, yeah. A little mopey, but otherwise fine."

Minako raised an eyebrow at her. "You mean you didn't, you know--" With an absolutely straight face, Makoto's friend started shadow-boxing for a few seconds, and stopped with a suggestive shrug. Makoto stared hard at her for a few moments, and Minako was unable to repress a grin.

Sighing, she solemnly laid a hand atop Minako's blonde head and ruffled her hair like a consoling parent. "I thought he learned his lesson, so he didn't get a spanking today. Meaning, of course, that I still have one available." She gave Minako a meaningful look.

"Excellent, I'm sure Ami-chan will be happy to hear that. See you later!" Minako ducked nimbly under Makoto's raised arm and ran daintily up the steps.

That girl... Makoto shook her head in exasperation, then stopped and stared thoughtfully at the floor. That girl... probably had the right idea. Makoto shuddered at the thought; it felt decidedly alien, to be admitting Minako had a superior method to doing something than herself, but it was hard to refute. Minako didn't have any problems going after what she wanted or saying what she wanted to say, and did not appear to be the worse for it. Even when she did make her friends angry or jam her foot so far in her mouth she left shoe prints on her tonsils, everybody managed to keep loving her all the same. Even now, she had been forthright enough to state her intentions to Mamoru, and she'd ended up happy. So had he. And if it hadn't worked out? Makoto found it somehow hard to believe that they would no longer be friends. Even though things seemed awkward between Usagi and Mamoru, Makoto thought, she was sure they were still friends too.

She struggled with that line of thought. What she should do, then, appeared to be so glaringly, stupidly obvious that she felt very nearly ashamed that she _hadn't_. By not revealing her love, wasn't it then as though she were condemning Ami, saying that she was a cruel, narrow-minded shrew of a person that wouldn't understand those feelings? She shifted her shoulders uncomfortably under the weight of that thought, even if she _knew _that wasn't how she really felt, and a thought flared to life: why not just ask Minako just how she managed to be so... her?

The stopped, then, and wondered if she had been possessed by a temporary madness. She dismissed that thought entirely; she knew how that conversation would go, in any case: Minako would just say something like, "A girl has to chase after happiness as fast as she can, and ruthlessly subdue it before it can get away! You know, like they say in America, 'Carp in a dime!'"

Makoto shook her head resolutely. No. What's more, she even knew that was Latin, and shuddered that she might understand Minako's mind well enough to come up with that, even in an imagined conversation.

Still, she suddenly _did_ feel as though she needed to talk to somebody, though the thought had been no more than a momentary impulse. A sheepish smile crept over her lips as her thoughts roamed over the people she might seek advice from. Amongst her immediate friends, there was only one person left, and she just happened to be the most obvious choice, she now knew. Makoto managed to lose her way twice in this unfamiliar area of the Palace. She eventually came to somewhere familiar to her--somehow on the opposite side of Usagi's quarters than she had thought she was on--and was able to find her way from there. She stopped short of the door that she had envisioned herself knocking on, remembering that there was nothing substantial of it remaining here, thanks in large part to her own efforts.

Shrugging, she walked over and popped her head in, knocking lightly on the frame of the door before stopping that action, stricken.

"Hello to you too, Mako-chan," Rei said to her, apparently unaware of how she had frozen in place. Rei sat with crossed legs on the couch in the room, still strewn with debris from earlier, with two suitcases sitting on the floor in front of her, and one Ami sitting on the couch beside her, who was staring at her with somewhat wide eyes, too.

"O-oh, sorry, Mako-chan," Ami said with a barely noticeable stammer, and quickly arranged a small smile on her lips that almost, but not quite, reached up to her eyes. "Were you ready to go? I didn't mean to be so long here."

"Erm, I was actually coming to talk to Rei-chan for a moment..."

"Well, feel free," Rei said with a welcoming gesture, after a moment's silence. She eyed them both with... well, what looked most like irritation. Makoto struggled, she didn't want to say it was a private matter, and have Ami think that she was holding a secret from her, but...

"Ah, Rei-chan, I should really go, I still haven't looked into retrieving my belongings yet. I really shouldn't lose my textbooks." Ami didn't wait for any reply before she was already up and headed for the door. "I'll get that together so I'll be ready when you're done, Mako-chan."

"Okay," Makoto replied in a rush, even that one word having to be sent quickly after Ami's retreat. She watched until Ami turned the first corner.

"Hello, you had something to tell me?" Rei said impatiently, but as Makoto turned around, she saw her friend try to soften a little bit. The only seat left usable in the room was the space next to Rei on the sofa, so Makoto set herself down there somewhat self-consciously.

"Um, well, I guess... that is, getting right to the point," Makoto fumbled, doing anything _but,_ "I was talking with Mamoru just now, about something, and the conversation happened to turn to something else, and I was wondering, er, that is, I was kind of curious about... um, curious about you and Usagi-chan."

Rei's eyebrows shot up, but she spoke calmly. "Go on."

"That is, how did you two end up, erm, you know." Makoto made some vague gestures with her hands that somehow seemed appropriate, even if she herself didn't know what they were supposed to mean.

"End up what?" Rei asked pointedly. Makoto realized that she wasn't going to get anywhere with Rei, like this, so she took a deep breath, set her jaw, and tried again.

"How did you and Usagi-chan, ah, realize that you have feelings for one another?"

"Oh for the sake of--you too?" Rei growled, and she brought a hand up to massage her temple. Makoto was taken aback and was immediately backpedaling, thinking she had brought up a sore subject.

"Oh, I didn't mean to offend you or anything--"

"I know, I know. You didn't," Rei said firmly, signaling with a gesture that Makoto shut her mouth. "Look, just tell her. Seriously, before the end of the day. Now, when you go meet her."

Makoto stared blankly at her. "I, uh, don't know what you're talking about, I was just curious--"

"Mako-chan, here's a secret," Rei interrupted her again, and adopted a conspiratorial whisper. "I've looked into the fire and seen your future."

Makoto's eyes widened, and she leaned closer. "R-really? What did you see?"

"The fire says that if you don't follow Rei's advice, Rei might toss you into that self-same fire."

Makoto looked away and flushed in embarrassment, both at realizing how easily Rei had seen through her (really, she had been planning on talking to Rei more openly in the conversation, but when her friend suddenly burst out with it like that she had automatically gone on the defensive) and at having been fooled by Rei's jest.

"The fire also says it's more likely than you think," Rei added.

Makoto looked up, though she raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Oh, does it really now?"

"More or less, yes. Perhaps not in so many words. It also said get out of here and let Rei leave."

"I thought you said that you hadn't been following your Shrine Maidenly duties?" Makoto pointed out, though she was smiling now.

"How remarkable. I must be getting better, the fire's telling me things and I haven't even lit it yet. I can tell you that it's absolutely right, though, and you _need _to talk to Ami-chan. I can tell you from personal experience that nothing will even be right again until you do."

Makoto locked eyes with Rei for a moment, trying to decided how she felt about this turn of events, but really couldn't. Her gaze slide off of Rei's, and over her shoulder she saw something else, that somehow decided the matter for her. Makoto rose, suddenly, ignoring Rei's questioning expression. She walked across the room and knelt on a patch of carpet damp with water spilled from a shattered vase that Makoto didn't want to guess at the cost of, and reached out for one of several roses spilled out from that vase. There were five laying on the floor, four of them a deep, luscious red, while one stood out as a soft pink. Pink like her earrings, or that summer dress that Ami had liked back in junior high. Makoto gently cupped the flower in her hand and felt the smooth silkiness of the petals, and it felt right.

"Rei-chan, you think Usagi-chan would mind if I ran off with this?"

"And if I said yes?" Rei answered shrewdly, grinning.

"I'd have to apologize to her, later," Makoto answered as though it were obvious.

"Save your apologies and get out of here already."

"Thanks, Rei-chan."

"Do yourself a favor and kick your own behind next time, will you?" Rei called out as Makoto left the room.

The walls flew by as she stepped swiftly down the hall, cradling the rose with two hands tenderly to her breast. Back to where she and Ami had thrown down their burdens to rush back to Usagi... it felt like quite a bit longer ago than it really had been. When she came to the exit out of the private area of the Palace, she was gratified to see the two Guard there politely offering Ami her belongings, all well-put together as though they had gathered them for her. She had more important things on her mind, however. The Guards looked over at her, and Ami followed their gaze and turned around. For a split-second, Makoto had a thousand misgivings run through her mind, from the same concerns about their friendship all the way to the more irrelevant concern about not wanting an audience, but they were all banished from her thoughts as she looked into Ami's eyes. Makoto's last few steps towards her were slow, almost hesitant, but she made them. Swallowing the last of her trepidation, she unveiled the rose from behind her hands and offered it to Ami. Blue eyes widened, and when she reached out to accept the flower, Makoto took her hands in her own, so that they were holding it together, and stepped close. Ami had to look up at her for their eyes to meet.

"Ami-chan, I want to tell you that I..." her words caught in her throat, tying themselves up into a little lump that she had to work at for a moment.

"You...?" Ami said, and she seemed to rise closer, a light in her eyes that Makoto didn't think she'd ever seen there before.

"I love you." Makoto untethered the words and let them fly from between her lips like caged wild birds, free and never again to return to captivity. Her eyes fluttered, but she tried to keep them focused on Ami, see what this long-coming moment would bring to her. Ami's eyes closed and her face tilted up, and Makoto felt a weight against her, and in a vague kind of way realized that Ami was leaning into her. Somehow, her muscles all froze, as well as her thoughts, and she could only look into Ami's face and it felt all she could do just to breath.

"Mako-chan," Ami's words whispered out, lips only barely moving,"You're rather tall, you're going to have to do something to."

Life flooded through Makoto again and her heart hammered so that she thought Ami's teeth might rattle from the noise. Makoto released Ami's hands and twined her arms around the girl's back, pulling her closer and lifting her slightly as she bent her knees and lowered her lips until they touched Ami's own, shoving down any errant thought that perhaps she had misunderstood, and then not having to worry about it as Ami met her with equal fervor. Makoto felt felt Ami slide an arm out from between them and lay it on her neck, pulling her down more insistently. Ami's lips were soft and warm and so was Ami; Makoto had not a single clue what to do next, but felt she didn't have any problem just standing there enjoying a kiss that felt infinitely greater than what she had stolen before in a moment of fear.

A soft clap perked her ear, and it was followed by another, from another direction, and suddenly there was a quite applause sounding in the air around them. Makoto opened her eyes and met Ami's again, and they broke apart, looking around at the two guards cheerfully clapping their hands together. As Makoto looked at the senior with surprised eyes, he stopped and shrugged self-consciously.

"It seemed like the thing to do? Congratulations! I think?" He smiled and rubbed the back of his neck, and Makoto felt laughter bubbling up in her stomach until it burst forth happy from her mouth, and turning to Ami she saw her laughing softly, too, and that melted the laugh in Makoto's throat and ran down to warm her heart, her lips forming a tender smile at the still scarcely-believable realization that Ami, that this beautiful person whom her heart had yearned for... her heart now had.

"So, your place or mine?" Ami said suddenly, with a merry twinkle in her eyes and a mischievous edge to her smile. Makoto's throat caught again, and she suddenly developed a coughing fit.

"It's a trick question, you know," Ami explained. "I don't _have _a place."

"I don't think that's her problem, miss," the younger guard cracked, and Makoto glared at him.

"Give me those," she said gruffly, grabbing for the large suitcase and pile of dresses laid over the guards' desk, and started walking away.

"I better be on my way as well, thank you," Ami said somewhat more politely, and she sidled up to Makoto carrying her two bags. Makoto felt a desire to pull her close with an arm over her shoulder, or hold her hand, anything, but they both had their hands full.

"You see that?" She heard a gruff, mature voice from behind them, that of the senior Guard. "Those girls and their happiness, those are the things we're protecting from these terrorists as members of the Palace Guard. Remember that, the next time you want to complain about security regulations."

Makoto and Ami both stopped and looked at one another, and smiled. They resumed walking and made their way outside where they found a taxi waiting with an extremely disgruntled Taxi driver who managed to _pretend_ to be polite regarding the tardiness of his fare. At least, that was, until Ami passed him some generous compensation, after which he was genuinely polite. Ami had called for a cab before they had left her room in the Palace, and he had apparently been very sternly told that he was to wait patiently for these "Palace folk," no matter how long it took; Ami told him they were both really thankful for his dedication. The ride over was painfully short, only a few minutes that Makoto could sit there with Ami leaning against her before they pulled up to her apartment and had to clamber out and load up with Ami's things again. Makoto led the way, using the elevator this time when she would usually use the stairs, and walked back into her home and into the bedroom, where she stopped and set Ami's suitcase on the floor. She was about to go towards the closet to hang up everything else she held when a hand caught her own from behind, the one that held the hangers, and gently prised them from her grasp. She let go without resisting, she heard them all fall to the floor.

"Oh! I'm sorry--"

"I dropped them," Ami interrupted her, and Makoto was pushed forward onto her bed and sprawled out on her belly, surprised, while Ami fell down atop of her and rolled off into Makoto's vision. Ami met her eyes.

"Vacation, remember? No working, at least not right now."

"They'll wrinkle," Makoto pointed out.

"I don't care," Ami replied with a smile. Makoto reached out to catch Ami's hand in her own, and thought about it, and realized that she didn't really care, either.


End file.
